


Insecurities and Unknown Realities

by zeusfluff



Series: Shifting Realities [3]
Category: Fringe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 08:03:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 34,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5658805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeusfluff/pseuds/zeusfluff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shape-shifters from William Bell’s reality are after Olivia and her unborn child. Can the rest of the team come to her rescue </p><p>before it’s too late?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Insecurities and Unknown Realities

**Author's Note:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own an original one.

February 16th, 2012

 

With my job, trouble always had its way of finding me. Ever since I 

 

was taken by agents who work for David Robert Jones, my whole 

 

outlook on life has been different. I’ve been more afraid and on 

 

edge. Not to mention still going between two different dimensions, 

 

my own and William Bell’s. I still suffer some type of seizure 

 

disorder that no doctor can figure out. There’s no name for it. Right 

 

now, I’m being chased by shape-shifters from Bell’s side of reality.

 

My tires squealed as I ran the red light in front of me and made a 

 

hard right. I didn’t have time to notice the car coming at me from the 

 

side I was driving on. I felt the impact of another truck against my 

 

own, and the car began to roll. The car was leaving me very jarred. I 

 

was upside-down and all the blood was rushing to my head. Being 

 

seven months pregnant doesn’t help my situation any. The bad thing 

 

about this is I haven’t felt my little girl move since I left Harvard. My 

 

cell phone began to ring somewhere to the right of me. I carefully 

 

picked through the glass and found my phone. It was Peter.

 

“Peter, please come, send some help. I... I was... I was in a car 

 

crash and I... I haven’t felt the baby move for an hour. Please 

 

come.”

 

I hung up my phone leaving it close to me. My seatbelt was the only 

 

thing keeping me in place. I was getting dizzy because all the blood 

 

was rushing to my head. My eyes were beginning to flutter, and the 

 

harder I fought to stay awake, the less strength I had. I only saw 

 

darkness after that.

 

I woke to glass breaking. There were a bunch of voices, but none of 

 

them I recognized.

 

“Stay calm agent Dunham. We’ll get you out.”

 

My emotions kicked in suddenly and I burst into tears. The driver’s 

 

side door began to rattle. They were using the Jaws of Life to get me 

 

out. Instinctively, I placed one of my hands over my stomach 

 

protectively. The door came off and I could feel one set of hands 

 

hold me in place while they cut me out of the seatbelt. Without even 

 

realizing it, I went crashing down on what was left of the ceiling of 

 

the car. I then felt four sets of hands pull me from the car and into 

 

the cruel and cold sunlight of winter. I was placed on a stretcher, put 

 

on Oxygen and asked several questions by the paramedic to the left 

 

of me.

 

“Olivia, how far along are you in your pregnancy?”

 

Could it be more obvious? I looked the paramedic in the eyes.

 

“29 weeks. I haven’t felt my baby move for at least an hour.”

 

The paramedic looked slightly concerned with what I was telling 

 

him. I couldn’t move my head because of the neck brace around my 

 

neck. Though it was four years ago now when I had my accident, I 

 

still have pain in my leg, hip and shoulder. It seems to flare up every 

 

now and again. I would hope it wouldn’t hinder my ability to give 

 

birth to this baby naturally. I turned to the other paramedic to the 

 

right of me.

 

“Four years ago, I was in a car crash. A car came at me from the 

 

back side and hit me. My seatbelt broke and I flew out the 

 

windshield landing in front of my truck. I dislocated my right hip, 

 

and a dislocated shoulder. I suffered brain damage and I suffer from 

 

seizures of unknown origin. That’s what my medical bracelet says. I 

 

feel like I’ve dislocated my right hip again. Is that going to affect 

 

how I have my baby?”

 

I could tell the paramedic was slightly overwhelmed by my 

 

questions. I looked up to try and distract myself from the array of 

 

different needles going in and out of me. I moaned and took a deep 

 

breath in when I felt sharp pain in my abdomen. My voice was 

 

startled and almost inaudible.

 

“No, no, no, no. Not yet. It’s too soon... It’s way too soon...”

 

The paramedic to the right caught on to what I was feeling and 

 

nudged his partner to get his attention. The paramedic to the left 

 

asked what I was feeling.

 

“Olivia, can you tell me what you’re feeling right now?”

 

I winced and kept my hand over my stomach.

 

“Sharp pain in my abdomen. Is my baby okay?”

 

I was hooked up to a fetal heart monitor. Baby’s heartbeat sounded 

 

strong and regular, but it didn’t explain why she wasn’t moving.

 

“Looks like premature labor. I’ll have to ask you to relax and take a 

 

deep breath in. I’m going to check to see if you’re dilated. Just relax 

 

now.”

 

I nodded my head though I was slightly uncomfortable physically 

 

and the fact that men were giving me a pelvic exam. I tried to push 

 

my fears aside and relax. I was startled out of my thoughts when I 

 

felt slight kicking at my rib cage. I cried and gasped for breath.

 

“Good girl Emily. Your okay. Don’t scare mommy like that again.”

 

It was harder for me to breathe now for some reason. For me, this 

 

wasn’t in my control. I liked to be in control of things. The 

 

paramedic from the left came back into my line of vision again. I 

 

shuddered as I saw his hands descend from under the sheet covering 

 

my bare legs.

 

“From what I can tell Olivia, you are dilated two centimeters. We’ll 

 

get you to Boston General and see where the doctors want to go 

 

from there.”

 

I nodded my head, tears still streaming down my face. We pulled to 

 

an abrupt stop. We must have pulled into the hospital. I had to see 

 

Peter, tell him what was going on. Everything was getting a bit 

 

fuzzy. I could see figures in white coats, but they weren’t clear. One 

 

seemed to be talking to me.

 

“Olivia, where is the pain? You said you possibly had a dislocated 

 

hip.”

 

I nodded my head and tried to move my leg, but cause myself to hiss 

 

in pain. I was being rolled in through the emergency room doors. 

 

One of the people in white spoke to another doctor out of my sight.

 

“32 year-old Caucasian female involved in a rollover crash. 29 

 

weeks into pregnancy with possibly premature labor. Dislocated right 

 

hip and left shoulder.”

 

I heard a man’s voice that sounded familiar.

 

“Olivia! Oh my god! You alright sweetheart? What happened?”

 

I sighed in relief, and once again began to cry. Peter had come to my 

 

rescue more than once before we were married. Being pregnant was 

 

strange for me. This was Peter and I’s first child together. I had one 

 

a couple of years ago under the strangest of circumstances. Peter 

 

and I were working a case involving a man who stole newborns from 

 

their mothers and sold them on the black market to unsuspecting 

 

parents willing to adopt through bogus adoption agencies.

 

The man came to me in my dreams. They were visions that I often 

 

saw. Probably a side effect of the Cortexiphan that still runs its 

 

course through my blood stream. He had been stealing a baby girl 

 

from her basinet. Then I heard a woman screaming. It was me. I 

 

saw myself giving birth, and as I was dreaming it, in the waking 

 

world it was happening too. It had made no sense because in the 

 

waking world I showed no signs of even being remotely pregnant. I 

 

gave birth to a boy. I woke up from my vision/dream very 

 

disoriented and in pain. I felt like I had just given birth to a melon! I 

 

had no idea what was even going on until I heard a baby begin to 

 

cry. I couldn’t figure out where the crying was coming from. I was 

 

getting bewildered looks from both Astrid and Walter. Peter had his 

 

back to me and he had something in his arms he was being extremely 

 

careful with. He was holding something in a soft white blanket. I 

 

tried to see around Peter’s back.

 

“Peter, what is that you’re holding?”

 

Peter turned around and smiled at me.

 

“Olivia, meet your son. I think congratulations are in order, though 

 

however strange they may be... I have no idea how this happened 

 

unless your dream came true. It sure does remind me of magic man-

 

baby though...”

 

I was startled out of my thoughts when a doctor showed up in my 

 

line of vision.

 

“Are you allergic to any medications Olivia?”

 

I shook my head no. A nurse was carefully taking the neck brace 

 

from around my neck. I ten saw Peter in my line of vision. As he 

 

tried to grab for m hand to comfort me, a doctor pushed him out of 

 

the way.

 

“Excuse me sir, but I can’t allow you in here. You’ll have to wait 

 

outside.”

 

I almost pleaded with Peter, but changed my focus to the doctor 

 

instead.

 

“Doctor please let him stay. He’s my husband.”

 

I hissed miserably as two doctor’s popped my hip back into its 

 

socket. I was then instructed to put my feet up on a pair of stirrups. I 

 

shook my head and looked towards Peter. They had let him stay. He 

 

grabbed for my right hand and squeezed it to try and comfort me. I 

 

could see in his eyes though, that he was just as afraid as I was of 

 

the outcome of the situation. The doctor in front of me nodded her 

 

head in approval, and looked me straight in the eye.

 

“You can put your feet down now Olivia. From what I can tell here, 

 

you’re only dilated two centimeters; I confirmed that with the 

 

paramedics that brought you here. We’ll have to hook you up to a 

 

fetal heart monitor for a while, just to time your contractions. There 

 

is a good chance that what you’re feeling is only false labor. It 

 

happens to a lot of women in their last trimester. We’ll get you all 

 

fixed up and into a suite with a good view of the city. Not to worry 

 

Olivia, everything will be just fine.”

 

Though Doctor Elker said those words to me, it didn’t give me much 

 

confidence at all. What if she was wrong? Peter read into my 

 

worried expression and voiced his thoughts.

 

“Don’t worry Livvy. Everything will be just fine. Your fine, the 

 

baby’s fine. The worst they’ll give you is putting you on bed rest. 

 

No worries. Okay?”

 

I nodded my head and felt Peter’s soft kiss on my forehead. I let 

 

myself drift off into an almost fitful sleep. The whirring machines 

 

and the scratching of the needle against the paper to monitor my 

 

contractions were driving me crazy. I cracked my eyes open to find 

 

Peter sitting next to the bed with this head in his hands. He sounded 

 

like he was crying.

 

“Peter? What’s wrong?”

 

The worry etched across his face and the unknown in his eyes made 

 

my heart rate increase, making the machine that I was hooked up to 

 

begin to beep wildly. Peter took me by the shoulders and tried to 

 

calm me. But what I saw in his eyes frightened me.

 

“ ‘Livia, there was something else that happened during the crash, 

 

didn’t it? Who was chasing you?”

 

I quickly went into protective mode, placing my hand over my 

 

stomach as if that would protect our baby. My hands were literally 

 

shaking. They were shaking just like they had the first time I was 

 

thrown from my truck out the windshield four years ago. My voice 

 

sounded almost inaudible.

 

“Those shape shifters from Bell’s reality, they were chasing after 

 

me. Again. Why do they keep chasing me Peter? Why?”

 

Peter was just as lost as I was on this plane of reality. What worried 

 

me most was, what would the Cortexiphan do to the baby growing 

 

inside of me? Would it spread like Aids/Hiv? Pass from mother to 

 

child? I worried about that daily, and hadn’t yet told Peter. Peter 

 

cleared his throat.

 

“Maybe because they think you are a threat to them. And so is our 

 

baby. Don’t worry Olivia; I won’t let them hurt you. I won’t let 

 

them touch you, I promise.”

 

To Be Continued


	2. Trouble from the other side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own Emily.

February 18th, 2012

I have been in this hospital bed two days, and yet no one can tell me 

what is going on. The doctor’s keep telling me that they want to 

keep me here a few more days. But I was never one to stay in one 

place for long. To think that I wasn’t quite the type to marry, and 

here I was proving myself wrong. I was married and very close to 

having my very first baby. Rachel had been ecstatic when she found 

out Peter and I were to be married two years ago. I really hadn’t 

known though when I had fallen in love with Peter. He’d always had 

that certain way about him. I guess one could call it the bad boy 

approach. I was pulled out of my thoughts as Peter walked into the 

room.

“Well, it’s nice to see sleeping beauty’s finally awake. How are my 

girls doing this morning?”

I smiled warmly, but tiredly at Peter. Though I smiled at him, I was 

still very worried over the fact that these shape shifters could look 

like any one of us, including my own husband. I brushed the thought 

aside, trying not to worry Peter. Placing my hand over my stomach, 

I smiled even brighter.

“We’re fine Peter. Did you by any chance bring any clean clothes 

from the house? I kind of wanted you to bust me out of this joint 

today. I hate being stuck in this bed. False labor or not, I’m getting 

out of here, regardless of the dangers surrounding me. And is a 

protective detail outside my room really necessary? I haven’t seen 

any shape shifters in two days. Maybe they’ve given up?”

I closed my mouth as soon as I said that. That’s just it; they never 

gave up once they targeted something or someone. I was their 

primary target and eliminating me and my baby was their main 

objective here. I shuddered at the thought. Why us? When I was 

worried or nervous about something, I would play with my hands. 

Peter came to my rescue once more.

“Yes ‘Livia, you do need a protective detail outside your room. You 

know why, because those shape shifters want something from you... 

Only you know what it is. But why would they want both you and 

the baby dead? That makes no sense to me...”

I creased my brow trying to think. I was beginning to get a slight 

headache. The dull throbbing in my head caused me to try to seek 

temporary comfort by looking at the outside world. Snow was falling 

lightly, a scene I had become accustomed to in the past four years. 

Maybe even longer. The color of the snow, white in all its form, was 

very pretty to look at from the inside, but I knew it was very cold 

outside. It could stay there for all I cared. I glanced back over at 

Peter, rubbing my temples, hoping to ebb the pain in my head. Peter 

gave me a look.

“Oh don’t give me that look Peter. I know that look. So I’ve got a 

headache. So what. It’s not connected to the other side, or anything 

else. It’s just a headache.”

I hadn’t meant to snap at Peter. But this headache just wasn’t going 

away. Maybe one of the doctors could get me something to take the 

edge off it. Something that was safe for both me and the baby to 

have. Peter must have read my mind.

“Would you like me to get the doctor for you? Maybe he could get 

you something for that headache that’s at least safe for the both of 

you to have. Now are you sure it has nothing to do with the other 

side, and that the baby is okay?”

I glared at Peter. No. It had nothing to do with the other side. And 

yes the baby was fine. I shifted my gaze towards the snow out the 

window once again. I smiled sadly as Charlie’s face floated across 

my mind. I often wondered what his response would be if he saw 

me now. Me having a baby, and married of all things... My thoughts 

seemed to trail away as I remembered something that I wanted Peter 

to get for me other than a change of clothes. My gun. Where was my 

gun? Had Peter gotten my gun for me? But before I could ask him if 

he brought it for me, Rachel walked into the room with a big smile 

on her face, and at her side there was Ella. Ella’s face lit up when 

she saw me.

“Hi Aunt Olivia! Mommy and I brought you some flowers... Look 

what I drew for you at school!”

Oh yeah. The same Ella I remembered from when she was four. It’s 

hard to believe she’s eight now. I managed a smile for Ella as I 

hugged her. When she let go, she handed me a drawing she had 

made with markers.

“Is this for me Ella? Oh you shouldn’t have. I love the flowers and 

the pretty sun you drew. But who are the five people in the picture?”

Ella laughed at me as if I were being silly.

“The one in the blue is you Aunt Liv. This little person next to you is 

me, and that baby I’m holding is Emily. Next to me is mommy and 

next to her is Uncle Peter. See, we’re happy and all smiling. My 

family.”

I ruffled Ella’s hair momentarily trying to think of something to say. 

Ella looked at me curiously. I knew something was on her mind, but 

what was it? I smiled at her and ruffled her hair once more.

“What’s on your mind baby girl?”

Ella turned her head and gazed down at my swelling stomach. She 

was a very curious child, almost too curious for her own good. Who 

did that remind me of? Oh, me... She looked me straight in the eye.

“Aunt Liv, doesn’t it feel funny? I mean Emily moving around inside 

your tummy all the time? What’s it feel like? Can I feel? I promise to 

be super careful.”

I exchanged amused glances with Peter and laughed a little. I 

carefully took Ella’s tiny hand and placed it over my stomach. I 

closed my eyes as I felt Emily kick at my ribs. Ella’s laugh made me 

open my eyes.

“Careful now. See? Didn’t I tell you it felt funny? Like the wings of 

a butterfly. She’s saying hello to you Ella. Don’t be shy, say hello 

back.”

Ella’s laughter was quickly quieted as she frowned and gazed at me, 

scanning my eyes for something. She had yet another question on 

her mind.

“That feels funny. Aunt Liv, mommy said you are in the hospital 

because you had an accident. You got into a car crash. Is Emily 

okay? Mommy said you might have Emily.”

I shook my head no and gave her a confident beaming smile. I had 

to be brave. Ella had hardly ever seen me upset and rarely ever sad 

either. She didn’t need to know all the gruesome details of my 

accident. She was a child.

“Ella look at me. I’m fine. I did get into a car crash, but I’m fine. 

Emily is just fine. She was saying hello to you wasn’t she? No, I’m 

not having Emily right now. Not yet. It’s too soon... Uncle Peter and 

I will let you and mommy know. I promise.”

Ella’s face lit up again, apparently forgetting everything she had just 

asked me. She placed a small kiss on top of my stomach and started 

her way towards the door. Peter scooped her up in his arms and 

placed her on his shoulders.

“Come on Ella. Let’s give your Aunt Olivia a little rest.”

With Peter and Ella now out of the room and down the hallway, 

Rachel was the only one left. She let her smile fall, sitting down next 

to me. She shook her head no at me, she knew me too well.

“You know Olivia; you may be able to fool Ella with pretending to 

be happy. But that doesn’t work on me. I’m your sister, I know 

better. Now really, what did the doctors say? Is Emily really okay?”

I nodded my head and kept one hand over my stomach, and the 

other on the bedspread picking at the fabric nervously with my 

thumb and index finger. I wasn’t going to fool her on the situation of 

me being in this bed.

“The doctors only say its false labor and that I can go home in a 

couple more days. There is nothing physically wrong with Emily. 

But when I get home, I’m on bed rest. No getting out of bed except 

for using the bathroom. That little fact doesn’t sit well with me. Not 

at all.”

Rachel shook her head at me and placed the vase of yellow 

sunflowers on the table next to the bed. We didn’t have to say 

anymore, because we knew what one another was going to say. I 

watched her walk out of the room and as the door began to close, 

my eyes began to sag. Must be all the drugs their giving me. I relaxed 

myself and closed my eyes. I was drifting off to sleep as the door 

opened once more. I didn’t bother opening up my eyes. I only 

smiled and spoke up not even realizing it wasn’t Peter.

“Peter, did Ella and Rachel get home okay?”

When he didn’t answer, I opened up my eyes; only to find a man I 

didn’t recognize standing over me. I desperately tried to grab for the 

remote to call for help, but was unable to reach it when the man in 

front of me went for my throat, wrapping his hands around it. I 

managed to stun him momentarily as I grabbed for the vase of 

flowers Rachel got me and crashed them over the unknown man’s 

head. I pulled the wires attached to my chest to monitor my heart 

rate off me, along with the band around my stomach monitoring my 

contractions. I managed to pull myself out of bed. I bit my lip as I 

realized that my right leg was still semi-unusable. I had to move 

through the pain though. I pulled myself to my feet and hobbled 

towards the door.

As I grabbed for the door handle, the assailant grabbed me by the 

ankles and dragged me backwards. Screaming was all I could do to 

try and dissuade him.

“Somebody help me! Please! I need help!”

Six FBI agents and the two doing protective detail outside my room 

burst through the door instantly. One of the agents in the front whom 

I didn’t know very well shot the man who was still holding my 

ankles several times. His body fell with a loud thump to the floor 

next to me. I could only stare at his still form in shock, lying in a 

heap not moving. Next to him lie the black box with the three 

pronged nails sticking out of it to change its appearance. He was 

going to use that on me... Peter burst into the room moments later, 

his eyes searching my own frightened ones to see if I was alright.

“Olivia, look at me. You alright? What happened? Did he hurt you?”

I could say nothing as Peter pulled me into his arms. This had to 

stop. I didn’t want these shape shifters chasing after me anymore! 

It was wreaking havoc on me mentally and physically. It had to 

stop, and soon. 

To Be Continued...


	3. Time isn’t on my side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own Emily.

February 22nd, 2012 7:15 a.m.

It was nice to be lying in my own bed for once, instead of a hospital 

room that smelled of chlorine and antiseptic. The most revolting 

smell I could possibly imagine. Worse is the smell of bacon cooking 

downstairs and the noise of Peter and Walter chit-chatting away 

about some formula compounds for root beer again... I shook my 

head and wiped the sleep from my eyes as any attempts at sleeping 

would be futile. I managed to hoist myself out of bed, not caring 

about the specific orders given to me by my personal doctor and OB 

Doctor Elker to stay in bed.

I pulled my robe on over my delicate form and tied it shut. Putting 

my fuzzy slippers on, and I made my way towards the bedroom 

door and out into the hallway. When I got to the stairs, I stood and 

stared at the imposing structure. It felt like a million miles down. I 

tried my best not to make noise as I went down them and got to the 

bottom. I tip-toed down the hallway and peeked through the 

swinging door to the kitchen to spy on both Peter and Walter.

“...The root beer formula son is very simple. Now when you break it 

down, it’s simply a matter of the ingredients...”

I shook my head smiling to myself. My laugh must have attracted 

Peter’s attention, and he nearly knocked me over as he came out 

into the hallway. I feigned mock surprise and kept laughing at the 

both of them.

“You two never give up on the formula for Root Beer do you?”

Peter wasn’t amused that I was out of bed, I could tell. I only smiled 

at him more and made my way into the kitchen. The odor of 

cooking bacon assaulted my nostrils and went up my nose, sending 

my gag reflexes into overload. I tried my best not to gag on the 

offensive odor, but I wasn’t doing a very good job of it. Walter, 

seeing my obvious discomfort, handed me a glass of water. I took 

sips of the water as Walter pitied me. Oh how I disliked being 

babied.

“Oh you poor dear, the smell of the pork cooking on the stove in the 

frying pan, in this case the bacon must be causing you to feel most 

uncomfortable. How I do love the smell of cooking pork fat in the 

morning. Don’t you agent Dunham?”

I chewed on my lip, holding back the bile that was beginning to rise 

to my throat. When I could hold it no longer, I put my hand over my 

mouth and literally ran to the bathroom shutting myself in. Emptying 

what contents that were in my stomach, mostly bits of saltine 

cracker and soup from the night before, I heard knocking on the 

bathroom door.

“You alright in there ‘Livia? You really should get back into bed. 

Doctor’s orders remember? It’s important to stay calm and not stress 

yourself out. I know you’re worried about those shape shifters that 

are after you, but I’m not going to let them get to you. I promised to 

protect you, and I’m going to do that. Look, I know that time is not 

on your side. I know that. But I promised that when I married you, 

that I would protect you till times end.”

I managed to get back up onto my feet and open up the door. Peter 

steadied me by the elbow and helped me out of the bathroom. I 

didn’t like the way I was feeling. I glared at Peter as helped me back 

up the stairs to our room. My back was bothering me and I was 

wondering if Peter could give me a massage. I pressed my hand up 

to my back and kept it there. I had Peter help me out of my robe 

and gently lie down on the bed.

“Mmm, Peter can you massage my back? My lower back is killing 

me! Must be my sciatic nerve again... This baby weighs a ton... I 

just want her out... To be honest, I’m afraid... I’m afraid of what it’s 

going to be like to give birth to her. My greatest fear is of having 

complications. Emily after all is our miracle Peter. Do you remember 

when we were told that we couldn’t have children? More me than 

you... How devastated I was? I pushed against every barrier and got 

second opinions remember? After one miscarriage and she’s 

finally here, growing inside of me. I don’t know what I would do if 

we didn’t have her here with us Peter. I really don’t.”

I began to relax as Peter massaged my back. I was falling asleep as 

he rubbed my back. My sciatic nerve was beginning to let up on its 

painful grip on me. My eyes shot open as a thought occurred to me. 

I turned my head slightly to look at Peter.

“Peter, did you remove the frying pan from the burner downstairs 

and turn it off?”

Peter smiled and nodded his head at me. His hands stopped working 

their magic on my back suddenly, being more careful. I turned my 

head back towards him again. His eyes were full of pity for what my 

back looked like. My back was covered in scarring and bruises from 

falling after being cut from my seatbelt the day of the accident. 

Though I knew the scars would heal over time, it was hard to know 

when.

“I guess I’ve never really seen your back after we came home from 

the hospital. To answer your question about the bacon in the frying 

pan on the front burner on the stove, yes, I moved it and the stove is 

off.”

Peter went back to work on massaging my lower back, making sure 

my sciatic nerve wasn’t going to bother me anymore. I was falling 

into a peaceful sleep, and now I felt Peter lying on the bed next to 

me. He pulled me into his arms and kept me there. I couldn’t have 

been asleep more than half an hour when I was jolted awake, feeling 

jabbing in my ribs and stomach. I winced and moaned, causing Peter 

to wake up. I tried to ignore it, knowing full well this was part of 

being in false labor, but I couldn’t help taking deep breaths in and 

out. Peter, genuinely worried for his very pregnant wife, made me sit 

up. I swore under my breath, though knowing Peter could hear me.

“Dammit. Son of a bitch. This one really hurts...!”

Peter, with one hand making circular motions up and down my back, 

and the other placed gently over my stomach was trying his best to 

comfort me. He seemed confident enough this wasn’t the real thing 

yet, though I had a hard time with this whole thing. I was never one 

to accept peoples help. But Peter, he was my husband now, and we 

did things as a team. Peter’s voice was soothing, even through the 

discomfort I was feeling right now.

“Just relax ‘Livia. Relax. Your body is just practicing. Let’s try some 

deep breathing exercises we learned in Lamaze class.”

I closed my eyes and tried to clear my thoughts, but I was beginning 

to feel scared all of a sudden. I knew Peter was picking up on it. I 

told him what’s been on my mind the past three days.

“Peter, I have a little confession to make to you. I know I’ve never 

mentioned this to you before, but you know I’m worried... What 

worries me most is, what would the Cortexiphan do to the baby 

growing inside of me? Would it spread like Aids/Hiv? Pass from 

mother to child?”

Peter’s face showed he was visibly upset. Of course with this 

conversation, it always pointed back to his father, which was now 

and has been my father-in-law for the past four years. Suddenly, a 

bright flash blinded me temporarily. I put a hand up to shield the 

effects of it from my face. Was I seeing something? Or was I going 

to the other side again? I didn’t need that. The very last time William 

Bell pulled me into the other side, I was three months pregnant and 

Peter had said I just suddenly collapsed as if I had simply passed 

out. But that wasn’t the half of it either. Peter said I hadn’t 

responded to anything that him and Walter were doing to try and get 

me to wake up. Then the seizures started... I had the unknown 

seizures before, but as a side effect of being in the tank. Walter had 

warned me not to go, but I went anyways, and four times seemed to 

do it for my body. The bright white light continued to blind me, and 

I turned my head away to shield myself. I could hear Peter’s voice 

frantically calling my name and asking what was wrong, though he 

sounded very far away.

“Olivia! What’s wrong? Olivia look at me, what’s wrong? Oh my 

god! Walter get in here! Olivia’s having a seizure!”

After that I didn’t hear Peter anymore, I only found myself standing 

in front of a smirking William Bell.

“Olivia time isn’t on your side. Time isn’t on your side and is 

running out for both you and your unborn child.”

To Be Continued...


	4. Uncertain Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own Emily.

William Bell was still smirking at me. Sure I knew time was not on 

my side, but what did it have to do with me and Emily? What did 

Emily have to do with all this and how did she fit in with The 

Pattern? It made no sense to me. Bell stared me down and offered 

me a chair so that I wasn’t on my feet.

“Oh Olivia, you really shouldn’t be on your feet at such a late stage 

in your pregnancy. Have a seat, you’ll feel better. Would you like 

some tea while we talk?”

I snorted at Bell; this wasn’t some tea party he had so courteously 

invited me to. I didn’t like how he was trying to be all civil with me. 

If it weren’t for Emily growing inside of me, I would give William 

Bell a piece of my mind. I glared at him.

“I’m not here for your little tea party Doctor Bell. I want answers. 

And I want them now. You tell me why you brought me here. Why 

are those shape shifters are after me? My baby? What did she do?”

Bell sat back in his enormous and expensive looking office chair with 

a weird smile on his face. It made me nervous when he smiled at me 

like that. I placed my left hand over my stomach and took deep 

breaths to calm myself.

“The answer Olivia, to the question that’s been rolling around in 

your head for the past three days is this: Yes, the Cortexiphan in 

your system is also flowing in your child’s system as well. It is 

passed from mother to child, much like the Aid’s/Hiv virus. But 

there is a way to reverse that. Walter knows a way to get all the 

Cortexiphan out of your blood stream. It’ll take time, but once it is 

all out of your system, and your child’s, it’ll shut off your ability 

permanently. When Walter and I terminated the project, we tried to 

reverse the effects of the Cortexiphan we gave each of the 

participants. But without success.

Four perished without either of us finding a suitable option. I have to 

live with my mistakes Olivia. I know what I did hurt you and 

countless other children. Your parents sent you to me willingly, and 

the Cortexiphan was supposed to “cure” your Autism. It did “cure” 

it. When you came to Walter and me, you had severe Autism. Your 

parents thought it was Asperger’s. I wasn’t one to argue with that.

When you were with the other children, you never played with them. 

Not before you were “cured”. You’d pace the room back and forth 

like a caged animal and you got excited when you saw bright colors. 

Tints and hues of yellow got you most excited. You would jump up 

and down trying to reach the colored lights in the room. When you 

would get frustrated, you would cry and scream, throwing terrible 

temper tantrums. You made noises I suppose only you could 

understand. You didn’t talk because you didn’t know how. Walter 

and I tried to use hand signals and sign language with you, but you 

couldn’t understand what we were doing.”

I sat back in my chair, stunned at this new revelation in front of me. 

Why had no one, especially my parents, why hadn’t they told me 

that I’d had Autism as a child? That would explain my obsessive-

compulsive behavior when it came to things being organized. I could 

feel my breathing become labored, and it wasn’t a good feeling. I felt 

like something was squeezing and constricting inside of my chest. 

What was the matter with me? Bell only gave me an evil smile.

“You’re starting to feel the effects from your world aren’t you? I can 

tell you right now, that in your world you are having a seizure. Peter 

is trying to hold you down while Walter is giving you an injection. 

There isn’t much time so I will tell you this quickly: The shape 

shifters are after you because they know you are the gate keeper for 

the door between this world and yours. They are after your daughter 

Emily because she has an ability much like your own that would stop 

them from crossing over to the other side.”

I was very frustrated by this news and turn of events. Every time 

Bell brought me here, more questions would pop up than answers.

“...But how did you know my daughter’s name was Emily...?”

Before Bell could answer my question, I was thrust through the glass 

window of his office and back into my own world. I could hear 

Peter’s voice, though still very far away.

“Walter, she’s coming to...”

I felt numb all over, and when I opened up my eyes, the room was 

surprisingly dark. I found that Peter was holding me in his arms, and 

his face etched with worry, as it always was worrying about me. 

What had just happened to me? I tried speaking, but my voice was 

hoarse and nothing more than a whisper.

“...What? How long was I?”

Peter shushed me and put a few strands of my blonde hair behind 

my left ear. I could see tears forming in his eyes. Suddenly, I was 

feeling painful jabbing in my ribs and stomach again. Oh, not again! 

I whimpered a little and buried my head in Peter’s side. I took a few 

deep breaths in and out to help calm myself. This was only my body 

practicing after all. It would be much worse when I really did go into 

labor and was feeling real contractions. I felt Peter’s hand rubbing 

my back in big circles to help relax me.

“Relax ‘Livia. Just keep breathing, it’ll pass. Just blow right through 

it. Just try and relax yourself. You’re doing just fine.”

I started to cry, but it hurt so much. I didn’t think breathing through 

it was going to help me all that much. But Peter had confidence in 

me. He really did. Peter was a strong man, but he didn’t like to see 

me in obvious pain, which I’d like to think I’m good at hiding. But 

I’m not.

“I’m trying Peter. Really I am. It hurts so much though. It really 

hurts Peter...”

Walter’s stare was driving me crazy. Why did he always have to 

stare at me like that? The unbearable jabbing pain in my ribs and 

stomach were subsiding quickly, and I was able to breathe easier. 

When it was finally over, Peter still had a look of pity written all over 

his face.

“Olivia, you were seizing for over fifteen minutes. Walter gave you 

an injection to calm your body down though. Walter says not to 

make any sudden moves. Just to lie here and rest quietly. Now what 

happened to you?”

Peter’s questions left me wondering, what really did happen to me? 

But I knew, I knew. William Bell pulled me to his world and had a 

little ‘chat’ with me again. I shook my head and turned my attention 

back to Peter.

“Peter, it was William Bell. He made this happen. I’m sure of it. He 

pulled my conscious to the other side and had a little ‘chat’ with me 

again. He told me more about the Cortexiphan trials that I didn’t 

know about before. I guess as a child my parents sent me to your 

father and William Bell so that they could “cure” me of Autism. 

According to Bell, I had severe Autism when I was three. He said it 

did “cure” me, but gave me abilities instead. Apparently I could start 

fires with my mind. I’d set a room on fire and nearly destroy 

everything in the room. I couldn’t understand a thing that was going 

on around me.

It would only happen when I got frustrated about things I couldn’t 

touch. Bell said I liked bright colors, especially different shades of 

yellow. He said that when I was with the other children, including 

Nick Lane, I never played with them. I kept to myself playing with 

dolls. He also said that he and Walter were trying to teach me hand 

signals and sign language, but that I couldn’t understand.

It was supposed to be a way for them to communicate with me since 

I could not talk or even understand how to either. The reason why 

the shape shifters are still after me is because I’m the gate keeper for 

the door between this world and the other side. The reason they are 

after Emily is because she has an ability that they are afraid of, and 

she can stop them from crossing over to this side.”

Peter still held me in his arms, physically stunned at this piece of 

information I had just given to him. His nasty look to Walter made 

me realize that he was very upset with his father. But before Peter 

could say something harsh to him, Walter stepped in.

“Yes son it’s true. The Cortexiphan was to “cure” children with 

special needs. Olivia had Asperger’s syndrome. Belly and I don’t 

know why it “cured” Olivia. But it did. After she was “cured”, we 

got her to speak, but by degrees only. She took to the sign language 

quickly. When we sent her back to her parents, her mother was 

ecstatic to find that Olivia was a regular child.”

I saw Peter soften his expression towards his father. This was almost 

too much to take in at once. Walter quickly exited the room so that 

Peter and I could have some privacy. Peter looked into my eyes, 

being the loving husband he was, he offered me a plate of eggs. 

Which I couldn’t seem to get enough of, and it was one of my worst 

cravings ever.

“After your done with your plate of eggs ‘Livia, and your ginger ale, 

I need you to take your Pre-natal pills and your vitamins. I know not 

your favorite, but it’s to keep you and the baby healthy.”

I made faces at Peter; I really didn’t like taking my vitamins or my 

pills. They were horse pills and hard to swallow. After I was done 

wolfing down my plate of eggs and had chugged my ginger ale down, 

Peter handed me three pills. Two pre-natal pills and one vitamin. I 

whined to Peter as I stared at the offensive pills in my left hand and 

the glass of water in the other.

“Aw Peter, do I really have to? Why did the drug companies that 

make these pre-natal pills and vitamins all ‘horse pills’? There huge!”

Peter crossed his arms and smirked at me. I sighed and popped all 

three offending pills into my mouth. Taking a big swig of water, I 

downed the large pills in one swallow. I coughed a bit, causing Peter 

to whack my back. I took another sip of water to calm my coughing 

spell.

“See, that wasn’t so bad was it?”

I glared at Peter, what was he talking about? He had no idea what I 

was going through. He was a man, and men don’t carry or deliver 

babies. These were times I envied men. If only men could carry 

children and give birth, then they’d really know what it was like to 

feel the pain and changes going on in their body.

“Terrible Peter. You have no idea what we go through.”

To Be Continued...


	5. Wandering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own Emily.

March 2nd, 2012

 

I didn’t know how long I’ve been wandering out here in the cold, but 

I could no longer feel the limbs in my body. They were after me. 

The shape shifters never stopped looking for me. My mind kept 

wrapping around what Doctor Bell told me. As a child Olivia you 

had Autism. More accurately Asperger’s syndrome. Why hadn’t my 

parents told me? Rachel doesn’t even know. I’d rather her not know 

at all. The snow was above my knees now, and I no longer cared 

what it felt like. I don’t even know where I am. I felt like I was 

losing my mind! Though my mind went back to what Walter had 

once told me. My dear, you wouldn’t even realize if you were going 

insane. I tripped in the snow, falling hard into it. I sunk. Trying to 

pull myself up, I found that my body wouldn’t listen to anything I 

was telling it to do. So I sat there, wishing somebody would help me. 

A couple who was passing by saw me, and they were very startled.

“Miss? Are you alright?”

I shook my head no. I was freezing and suddenly I felt wet. My 

brain as fuzzy as it was, realized what was going on. Oh god. I 

managed to pull myself out of the sunken snow with the help of the 

man in front of me. I felt water splash out from under me. Oh god, 

my water just broke. What am I supposed to do? I’m a month early! 

My mind was in panic mode.

“Oh god, my water just broke. What am I supposed to do? I’m a 

month early!”

I was royally freaked out by this whole situation. Peter and I hadn’t 

yet completed our last set of Lamaze classes, and the nursery was 

incomplete. The only things we had in Emily’s room were her crib 

and a changing table. The rest of her furniture hadn’t arrived yet. 

The walls of her room weren’t even painted yet. A contraction, a 

real one this time ripped through my body like nothing I’ve ever felt 

in my life. I hunched over in pain, but tried my best to keep myself 

upright. Clutching at my stomach with my right hand, I took deep 

cleansing breaths, trying to keep myself calm. My mind wandered to 

my silver medical bracelet on my left wrist. I quickly yanked it from 

my wrist with my right hand and handed it to the woman who was 

keeping careful watch over me.

“Call my husband. The phone numbers on the flip side of the 

bracelet. Ask for Peter Bishop. Tell him that I’ve gone into labor and 

that I need him to come and get me. Please hurry!”

I decided to occupy a bench nearby to try and ease what I was 

feeling. The woman keeping a watchful eye on me was on the phone 

with Peter.

“Yes, is this a Mr. Peter Bishop? My husband and I found your wife 

wandering around Watertown. She’s in labor and is in need of 

medical attention. (Woman turns to me) What’s your name dear?”

I took a deep breath and bit my lip; I couldn’t answer her because 

now another contraction was biting through me and hard. The 

woman gave a little smack to her own head when she realized what 

she was asking me was already on my medical bracelet.

“Olivia Dunham.”

Peter was there in a matter of minutes. How had I gotten to 

Watertown? I shook my head as Peter jumped out of the car and 

running over to me. Why had he brought my car? Maybe he thought 

my police siren would help move people out of the way. I looked at 

him quietly, shivering from the cold.

“Oh my god Olivia! How long have you been out here like this? 

What are you doing out here! Come on, we need to get you to the 

hospital now!”

Peter had already taken his coat off and was draping it around me. 

The woman handed me back my medical bracelet and I managed to 

fasten it back onto my left wrist. I was still shivering violently. Peter 

helped me into the passenger’s side of the car. I hadn’t had time to 

notice Walter sitting behind me until he said something.

“Agent Dunham what are you doing out in this weather? I’m glad 

Peter and I were able to find you, we were quite worried...”

Peter about jumped back into the driver’s seat and slammed the door 

shut. He found the button to turn my sirens on and went speeding 

down the road. I was now screaming at the top of my lungs because 

I was in so much pain. I hadn’t imagined it would be this painful. 

Walter piped up from the back seat, seemingly irritated by my 

endless screaming.

“Agent Dunham! We could do without the shrieking, you are giving 

me a frightful headache! And Peter do slow down son, you’re going 

to cause us to crash!”

Peter turned his attention to his father in the back seat worry still 

covering his handsome features. Shaking his head he spoke to 

Walter.

“Walter, if you haven’t noticed, Olivia’s in labor! I’m getting her to 

the hospital! She’s having this baby TODAY!”

I managed a quick glance back at a confused and startled Walter 

behind me in between screaming fits of pain. Peter turned his 

attention towards me even though he kept his eyes on the road in 

front of him.

“It’s okay ‘Livia. Just relax and keep breathing. That’s my good girl. 

In and out. In and out. There we go. I know it hurts baby, but we’re 

almost there. Just try and relax. We’re almost there sweetheart.”

With one hand on the steering wheel, Peter frantically grabbed for 

my hand. He squeezed it to try and comfort me. I was not amused 

by the amount of cars piling up in front of us. Peter blasted the horn 

on the car and a few cars moved out of our way as the sirens kept 

blaring as we barreled down the street. We were now reaching the 

hospital. Peter half dragged-half pulled me from the car after turning 

it off. He succeeded in only carrying me twenty feet in his arms 

before he collapsed from the weight of both me and the baby.

A crowd of six people came out, three nurses and three doctors, all 

helping me up onto a stretcher. I was whimpering all the way 

through the emergency doors while trying to keep close to Peter. 

Peter was right there holding my hand. Everything seemed to be 

jumbled together. Both the doctors and nurses were frantically 

asking me all sorts of questions, but Peter came to my rescue and 

told all six of them what was going on.

“My wife is eight months pregnant. As of yesterday. She’s not due 

for another month. She doesn’t want any drugs, and she wants to 

deliver naturally.”

I was relieved to see Doctor Elker arrive in the delivery room. She 

smiled warmly at me as she snapped a pair of latex gloves on her 

hands. Though her smile was warm her voice told of concern.

“Olivia, I hadn’t expected to see you back so soon, and in labor no 

doubt. You’re not due until the 6th of next month. I just saw you a 

couple of weeks ago. No worries though Olivia, we’ll have your 

daughter out in no time. I just want to check your cervix real quickly 

to see where we’re at on things and then we’ll set you up in a 

birthing suite.”

I nodded my head and squeezed Peter’s hand. For some reason, 

Walter popped into my head. Where was he? Not that I wanted him 

in the room and seeing me like this, it’s just I wanted to make sure 

he hadn’t wandered off. I turned to Peter and voiced my concern 

over Walter.

“Peter where’s Walter?”

Peter only smiled at me and kissed my forehead. I guess I really 

didn’t need to know. He must be out in the waiting room. I smiled 

back and took a shaky breath in. He stated the obvious that I 

guessed was right.

“Walter is waiting very impatiently in the waiting room. I told him 

that you didn’t want him in the room as you gave birth. He 

protested, but I told him it would be better for the both of us if he 

waited outside in the waiting room.”

I had been so distracted that I hadn’t noticed that Doctor Elker was 

now looking at me. She smiled once more and explained her findings 

to both Peter and I.

“Olivia, you’re dilated four centimeters. It’ll be just a little longer. 

For now we’ll get you all dried off and in a dry hospital gown and 

wrapped in an electric blanket. We’re moving you to a birthing suite 

so that you’ll be more comfortable.”

Peter and I only smiled relieved at Doctor Elker for giving us this 

piece of good news. I bit my lip as one more contraction hit me hard. 

I whimpered as Peter grabbed for my hand and squeezed it. But I 

squeezed it harder, causing Peter to glare at me. We were now in the 

suite as a couple of nurses moved me into the bed. I was now out of 

my wet snow-soaked clothes and being wrapped in a blanket. Peter 

continued glaring at me as I squeezed his hand. He probably thought 

I was breaking it.

“Olivia you are breaking my hand! Let go!”

Now it was my turn to glare at him. It was his fault I was like this! It 

was his fault I was in so much pain! I couldn’t stand the pain 

anymore; I need something to ease it. Once the contraction had 

subsided, I looked Peter in the eyes begging and pleading with him.

“I know I said no drugs Peter, but I really, really want that epidural. 

I can’t take the pain anymore. Naturally just isn’t for me. The no-

drugs way I mean. And I don’t want a c-section either Peter. Get me 

an Anesthesiologist. PLEASE.”

Peter nodded his head and pressed the call button on the remote on 

the bed. He could’ve just gone out in the hallway and grabbed a 

nurse from out there instead of using the remote on the bed. A nurse 

came into the room.

“Can I help you Mr. Bishop?”

Peter only gave the nurse a crooked smile as she walked over 

towards the bed. I shifted my weight to get comfortable again.

“Yes, my wife would like to see the Anesthesiologist please. She 

wants an epidural.”

I fidgeted with my hair and put it up into a messy ponytail. I was 

nervous and I began to pick at the iv in my left hand. I didn’t like 

needles in me. I didn’t like needles period. Peter gave me a mock-

stern look.

“Olivia, don’t pick at that. Leave it alone. It’s in your hand for a 

reason. To hydrate you. Relax everything is going to be fine. Don’t 

worry; I’m not leaving your side. I promised myself that I’d help see 

you through this.”

The nurse went out of the room and five minutes later came back 

with Boston General’s best Anesthesiologist. I sighed when I saw 

him, though I was nervous where he was going to stick that needle. 

Peter helped open the back of my hospital gown. I looked at the 

Anesthesiologist with a worried expression.

“Is this going to hurt? I’m deathly afraid of needles, and I... I would 

just like to know where you’re going to inject that into me.”

The man smiled warmly at me and pointed to my lower back. 

Swallowing hard, I grabbed onto Peter not wanting to look at the 

man who was sliding a four inch needle into my back.

“Don’t worry about a thing Olivia, if you would just keep your back 

nice and round for me. This’ll be done in a minute.”

I bit my lip and fought back tears as I held onto Peter tighter. That 

hurts. Peter reciprocated and rubbed the top of my back up by my 

shoulders. He could hear my semi-muffled sobs from over his 

shoulder.

“It’s alright ‘Livia. I know sweetheart. I know it hurts. It’ll be done 

soon okay? Just hold on.”

I tried to look into Peter’s eyes. I knew he knew that the needle hurt 

me, but it really hurt me. I let out a choked sob and let myself lean 

against Peter harder. How much longer was the man tending to my 

back going to take? I dug my nails into Peter’s back trying to forget 

the pain. I let out another choked sob.

“No Peter you don’t understand! It really hurts! That needle really 

hurts!”

I felt a loving kiss being planted on my now sweaty forehead. He 

must not mind that I’m starting to sweat, or the fact that my nails 

were digging into his back. I sighed in relief as the four inch needle 

came out of my lower back. But began to panic again when the 

Anesthesiologist spoke.

“I know you don’t like needles Olivia, but this is the last one I 

promise. This one is going to stay in your lower back though. I 

won’t lie to you, this one will hurt. More than the other one I just 

gave you.”

Peter glared at the man who was once again tending to my already 

fragile back. I knew he must see the bruising all over my back. But I 

pushed the thought aside and took a deep breath resuming my 

position of hugging Peter tightly.

“Nice bedside manner doc. You could be a little gentler with her. 

She’s in pain and your not helping her any by telling her, ‘this next 

one will hurt more than the last one’. Show some respect. She’s 

FBI.”

I turned my head momentarily to see the man’s attitude change. 

Peter made him nervous, I could tell. But he quickly resumed his 

position at my lower back. I grabbed onto Peter tighter still. This 

needle wasn’t as big as the last one. Only three inches long. I winced 

and whimpered as I felt it go into my lower back. I was angry that it 

had to stay there though, despite all my fears. I’d have to tough it 

out. The man turned to me and smiled.

“All done. That epidural should start kicking in within ten minutes. 

You’ll be more relaxed. I promise.”

I smiled; more relaxed was what I wanted to be right now. I was 

starting to feel overwhelmingly relaxed in a matter of minutes. I 

smiled over at Peter who gave me a sarcastic little laugh. I spoke, 

though my words might have sounded strange in normal 

circumstances.

“Hi baby. Ah, this feels wonderful. No more pain. Talk about being 

drunk with happiness. Aren’t you just the cutest thing? I could pinch 

those cheeks right now until their red. Come here, I just love you to 

death!”

Peter glared at me. Okay, I might be a little annoying right now, but 

that’s not me, that’s the drugs talking. My smile disappeared as 

another contraction came to me, but it wasn’t as painful as I thought 

it would be because of the drugs. It hurt a little bit, but not like 

before. Peter saw me and grabbed for me left hand.

“Alright Livvy, just relax. Take a deep breath in and blow the pain 

out. There we go. That’s my girl.”

Okay, I could handle this a little better now. But I was still nervous 

about what would happen when the baby came out. Would she 

scream? Or would she cry? Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but 

placing both my hands over my stomach. A knock on the door 

startled me. In came Rachel, tears streaming down her face.

“Livvy! Are you alright? When I heard that you had gone into labor 

early from Peter, I was sure that something was very wrong. What 

happened?”

I was too drugged to really register what Rachel was even saying to 

me, so I just smiled and beckoned for her to come over towards the 

bed. I laughed a little, making Peter give me a strange look.

“It’s all good Rachy. Really. Emily and I are fine. I’m actually really 

excited she’s coming. I want to hold her in my arms. Feel what you 

did the day you held Ella the first time. Now it’s my turn to be 

mommy. Who would have thought the loner in the family, Olivia 

Dunham, would ever be married to the most handsome man in the 

world and be having a baby huh?”

Rachel didn’t know what to say to my response, she only stood in 

front of me staring. She was probably wondering what had gotten 

into me. Peter turned to her and smiled mischievously.

“Don’t worry Rachel. That’s not your sister talking. That would be 

the epidural the Anesthesiologist gave to her about half an hour ago. 

Yeah I know, she acts like she’s high. I don’t know, it affects 

women in different ways. I’m just letting it slide by. Not really 

paying too much attention to it, because I know it’ll eventually wear 

off, and she’ll be her normal chipper self again.”

Rachel gave Peter a reassuring smile, but gave me a worried one. I 

shrugged my shoulders paying no attention to her. I drummed my 

index fingers lightly over my stomach. I was getting ants in my pants. 

I turned to Peter and gave him a sticky sweet smile.

“How about we play a game?”

Peter pointed at me and shook his head at me. I pulled him towards 

me and pulled him into a kiss. He pulled away from me; and I began 

to pout and crossed my arms over my chest.

“Uh-uh Olivia. Now is not the time for this. I know where you’re 

going with this little game of yours. I know what you’re thinking 

Olivia, and it ain’t gonna happen. We can do what you and I both 

want when your body has completely healed from giving birth. Just 

not now. You are doing just fine by the way. You know I’m here for 

you every step of the way don’t you?”

By now it had been a couple of hours and I was starting to feel 

strange. The pain was starting to come back full force. That’s not 

supposed to happen. What the hell is going on? I gripped the 

blanket covering me tightly and took several deep breaths to try to 

remain as calm as possible. I looked up at Peter meeting his very 

worried eyes.

“Uh oh Peter. Something’s wrong. That epidural wasn’t supposed to 

wear off. Now you go and get that Anesthesiologist back in here! 

You tell that son of a bitch to give me another one. Find him Peter!”

I was angry, and my head was muddled with pain. I could see 

realization dawn on Peter suddenly. He told me to lie on my right 

side. I looked at him wide eyed.

“Olivia just trust me on this. Turn on your side for me. (turns over) 

Just as I thought, there isn’t anything here. The needle that was in 

your lower back is gone! That man who ever he was, was playing 

mind games with us Olivia. The nurse may have been just a cover 

too. Relax, I’ll be back.”

I began to feel afraid as Peter left. But now I had a more serious 

problem. I had to use the bathroom. I really had to go. I ripped the 

nasal oxygen from my nose and did my best to get out of bed. My 

hip still hurt from where I dislocated it. But I was doing much better 

walking now. When I pulled the covers back and swung my bare 

legs over the side, I grunted in frustration. When had they had time 

to put this catheter in me? Without even thinking about what I was 

doing, I pulled the catheter out, trying to be as gentle on myself as 

possible.

“Good one less thing to think about.”

I made my way slowly to the bathroom, limping the entire way. I felt 

so much better afterwards and was on my way back to my bed 

when Peter came back into the room, his face a little more relieved 

than it had been previously. Peter frowned at me. What? Why was 

he frowning at me for? I burst into tears suddenly, not even realizing 

I had done it.

“Peter, why are you looking at me like that for?”

I was an emotional wreck. Peter helped me back into bed and under 

the covers again. He only shook his head at me. Then he sat in the 

chair next to my bed crossing his arms and smirking.

“Olivia, why did you take the catheter out? It was in so that you 

wouldn’t get out of bed. They were going to take it out only when it 

was time for you to give birth to Emily. Now just lie back and relax. 

I’ll get another nurse in here to put a new one in.”

I shook my head no; I didn’t want another one in me. I crossed my 

arms glaring at him. He should know better by now. If I didn’t want 

it, I didn’t want it, and that was final. I kept shaking my head no.

“No means no Peter. I don’t want another one in me. Did you find 

that Anesthesiologist?”

Peter shook his head no at me one more time. What did he mean he 

didn’t find him? What was going on? Had Peter and I been seeing 

things? There had to be some sort of explanation for what him and I 

saw right? I sighed in frustration once more and shifted my position 

under the covers to get comfortable again.

“No, and what’s weird about this whole thing is, the nurse that I 

called in here apparently there is no record of her. Who she is, and 

what she was doing in this hospital. The other doctors and nurses I 

talked to said they’d never seen a red headed nurse with glasses and 

a white headband. As for the tall, brown eyed Anesthesiologist, they 

haven’t seen him either. No record of him. He doesn’t even work 

here. So that begs the question: Who were those two, and what did 

they really put into you if there is no trace of the needle even being 

in your back in the first place?”

Turning this scenario over and over in my head was only making me 

dizzy. I nervously began picking at the iv attached to my hand to 

hydrate me. Doctor Elker came into the room distracting me from 

my thoughts. She smiled warmly at me, snapping another pair of 

gloves on her.

“Okay Olivia, it’s time to check and see where we’re at on things. 

Just relax; this’ll only take a minute.”

I winced and tensed a little. I bit my lip. Doctor Elker gave me an 

apologetic look. I tried to remain brave.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to be as gentle as possible. Okay looking good. 

Seven centimeters. Three more to go and we’re there. Hang in there 

kiddo. You’re doing great. I’ll be back in a little while to check on 

you, so rest up.”

I nodded my head and grabbed for Peter’s hand. He too was 

nervous. He squeezed it to try and comfort me.

“You know I’ve been going over this scenario in my mind, and for 

some reason I always thought giving birth would be easy and fast. It 

was for Rachel.”

Peter gave me a warm smile and handed me a piece of ice. I took it, 

grateful for the intervention. I was getting terribly thirsty, and this iv 

wasn’t cutting it very well. Peter rubbed my back, like any other 

supportive husband would do for his pregnant wife.

“Yes ‘Livia, but your not Rachel. You are you. Just think about it, 

soon Emily will be in our arms. Our little miracle.”

I was naturally nervous about all this, since it was all new to me, but 

any first time mother is. Once I hold Emily in my arms though, 

things should start falling into place naturally. At least I hoped they 

would. I nodded my head, but was still unsure of everything.

“I know I’m not Rachel Peter. But I can’t help thinking what am I 

supposed to do? Things were so much easier when it was just you, 

me and Walter. Pretty soon it’ll be you, me, Walter and Emily. 

That’s four of us in one house. I wished she wasn’t coming this 

early. I mean we haven’t even had the time to finish painting the 

walls in the nursery and most of her furniture hasn’t arrived yet. All 

we have is her crib and the changing table. Oh, and a few sets of 

clothes from the baby shower a week ago.”

Peter smiled brightly at me and laughed a little. Yeah, that was the 

old Olivia Dunham he was used to. A thought occurred to me like a 

flash of lightning. We hadn’t picked out a good middle name for our 

baby. Peter guessed correctly.

“Let me guess ‘Livia, your thinking that we should pick a middle 

name for Emily right? Why does she even need a middle name?”

I snorted at Peter crossing my arms across my chest. Of course 

Emily needed a middle name. But what could it be? Emily Ann? No 

too formal... Emily Jane? No, Ella’s middle name is Jane... Jamie 

doesn’t fit... Oh this one’s perfect. Emily Rose. But it’s going to 

sound strange with Peter and I’s hyphenated name. Emily Rose 

Dunham-Bishop. Shrugging my shoulders, I told Peter what I had 

come up with.

“How about this Peter: Emily Rose Dunham-Bishop. I know sounds 

corny doesn’t it? Eh, thought so... Any other suggestions then?”

Peter had the brightest smile on his face. I guess he likes it. I bit 

down on my lower lip as a contraction presented itself to me. I 

wanted to scream, but grabbed for Peter’s hand instead. It hurt 

badly, but I knew that they were coming closer together now, and it 

wouldn’t be much longer.

“It’s alright sweetheart, I’ve got you. I’ve got you. Breathe in and 

blow the pain out through your mouth. Focus on something calm. 

Imagine yourself on a white sandy beach with warm waters lapping 

at your feet...”

I glared at Peter, I wish he’d cut the crap out. If he were in my 

position right now, he’d be begging for someone to put him under. I 

was going to be brave though. I had always been the tough cookie in 

my family. I nearly spat in Peter’s face.

“Oh cut the crap Peter! I don’t want to think of white sandy 

beaches, or warm waters, all I want is this baby out! It’s your fault 

I’m like this! You did this to me!”

Wish I’d thought of those words eight months ago... It’s not that I 

didn’t want children, I love Emily, but I’m just in so much pain right 

now I don’t know what to think. It took all my strength not to start a 

struggle with Peter, who was trying his best to hold me down. I 

didn’t mean to fight with my own husband, but I was hurting... I 

broke down once more and began to cry, grabbing for Peter and 

pulling him into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry I’m being so mean to you Peter, it just hurts so much! It 

really hurts!”

Peter only continued to rub my back. I had lost track of time and 

didn’t know how long I’d been in labor for. Peter was taking all my 

heat surprisingly well. He wasn’t getting angry with my sudden 

outbursts of anger or anything. But he had become a more patient 

Peter Bishop over the last three years. And I liked that. Like 

clockwork, Doctor Elker came into the room once again. I smiled at 

her, hoping that this visit would be the magical one. The one where 

she’d tell me it was time.

“How are you feeling Olivia? Hope you rested up while I was gone.”

I began to pray. Please let this be it. Please let it be time. When 

Doctor Elker came back into my line of vision, her smile was as 

bright as ever. She was ready to get the ball rolling on this one, I’m 

sure of it.

“Okay Olivia, you ready for some good news?”

I nodded my head, anticipation clearly written across my face as well 

as Peter’s. I felt like I was watching a good drama movie and I was 

on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen to the 

main heroine of the whole film.

“Yes of course Doctor Elker. What’s the good news?”

I felt myself grabbing for Peter’s hand and holding it tightly. He 

kissed it lightly and we both stared back at Doctor Elker.

“Well, the good news is that it’s time. You’ve made it to ten 

centimeters. I’ll just call a couple of nurses in here and we can get 

started.”

I smiled at Peter, tears streaming down my face. I started laughing, 

not even knowing why. I guess I was just so happy that it was finally 

time. I felt like it had been years since I had been brought into the 

hospital. I shifted position to get comfortable in the bed, though I 

knew I’d have to scoot myself all the way towards the edge of the 

bed anyways... I was more than ready to have this baby. Really I 

was. Two nurses came into the room at just the right moment. Peter 

put a strand of loose blond hair behind my ear and then grabbed for 

my hand once more. I took a deep breath in to calm myself.

“I’m ready whenever you are Doctor Elker. Just say the word and 

I’m there.”

Doctor Elker nodded her head and gestured for a nurse to get 

blankets and various other things to help clean the baby up 

afterwards. This wasn’t going to be so bad.

“Okay Olivia, I want you to take a deep breath in and let it out 

slowly. There we go, good girl. Now I want you to push as hard as 

you can. Push! Push! Push! Good girl! Keep pushing, that’s it... I’m 

starting to see the head... One more big push for me and the baby’s 

head will be out. One more push! One more big push! And... the 

baby’s head is out! We’re over the hard part, its smooth sailing from 

here. Big push for me Olivia! Big push! Okay starting to see the 

shoulders. Shoulders are coming out.... Give me one more big push 

Olivia and the baby will be out I promise!”

I mustered up the last of the strength I had left and pushed with all 

my might. While holding onto my hand still, I saw Peter was 

curiously peeking around the sheet. His face paled a little and he 

resumed his spot next to me.

“That’s one sight I don’t wanna see again, that’s for sure. That’s a 

lot of blood...”

My face was red and covered in sweat, that much I knew, but it 

wasn’t until I heard Emily begin to cry that my whole world changed 

in an instant.

“Congratulations Olivia. You have a healthy baby girl. A good 8lbs 

and 6oz. A good size for a girl. The heaviest baby I delivered was 

yesterday, and he was 13lbs and 2oz. Very big baby. (Turns to 

Peter) Would you like to cut the umbilical cord dad?”

Peter gave Doctor Elker his crooked smile; he did it whenever he 

was nervous about something he was unsure of. But he wiped the 

worry from his face and stepped over towards Doctor Elker and 

took the scissors from her, cutting Emily’s umbilical cord separating 

her from me permanently. It wasn’t until Doctor Elker and the two 

nurses cleaned Emily off, wrapped her in a blanket and was placed 

into my arms that I realized that now she was real. She was really 

here. She was crying at the top of her lungs. She quieted as I began 

speaking to her.

“Welcome to the world Emily Rose Dunham-Bishop. I’m your 

mommy, and that nice man over there is your daddy.”

Though I said those comforting words to Emily in my arms, I knew 

that’d she’d never be safe as long as those shape shifters were out 

there, hunting for the both of us.

To Be Continued...


	6. The Joys of Motherhood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own Emily.

March 4th, 2012

It had been a long couple of days for both Peter and I. We’ve had so 

many visitors. The doctors said they don’t find anything physically 

wrong with Emily. They say she’s healthy and don’t see why she 

couldn’t got home. Learning how to breastfeed Emily was the most 

challenging thing for me to learn, but luckily I had the nurse help me 

out. Knocking on the door startled me out of my thoughts. Peter 

walked in with a fresh cup of coffee and another bouquet of flowers. 

I had a ton of them from most everyone at work, including Broyles. 

Though his visit was brief, he congratulated me. I smiled tiredly at 

Peter.

“Special delivery for you Olivia. These flowers are from Agent 

Jessup. I think she outdid herself with the lilies. I guess she wanted 

hers to be bigger than everyone else’s. Doctor Elker said she’d be in, 

in a few minutes. She has more good news for us.”

I picked at the tape left over from the iv push that had been in my 

hand only an hour ago. I stared down at the bland blanket covering 

me. My mind was still worried over the fact that those shape shifters 

were still out there.

“Peter, we have to protect Emily from those shape shifters. They are 

still after me too... I’m so scared Peter...”

Peter set the bouquet of flowers down on an empty corner of one of 

the tables in the room. He set his coffee down on the side table next 

to my bed and pulled me into his arms. He kissed my hair lightly. 

My life seemed to be spinning out of control, but gradually. Now I 

had a baby and myself to protect. Peter would insist on protecting 

the both of us. I knew he would do anything for his little girl.

“Don’t worry Liv, they can’t get you. They won’t touch a hair on 

your head. I promise you that. You know why, because you have a 

protective detail here, and there’s one waiting for us at home.”

I felt slightly better at the thought of that. I wiped the sad look off 

my face as Doctor Elker came into the room. Her face turned bright 

red for a moment and then it was gone.

“I hope I’m not interrupting the two lovebirds in here.”

Peter and I both looked at each other beet red in the face. Peter and 

I both cleared our throats and smiled brightly at Doctor Elker.

“So what’s the good news?”

Peter and I both looked at each other like we were children. Now he 

owed me a coke. We had both said the same thing at the exact same 

time. Doctor Elker laughed at our little banter.

“Emily is relatively healthy in every aspect. In fact I’d say this is 

where it gets weird. She’s the size of a regular full-term baby. Her 

lungs are mature and she has a good strong cry. Her reflexes are 

good. She responds well to sounds. So in short, she’s a normal 

healthy baby girl. You two can get out of here as soon as you sign a 

couple of release forms.”

Peter took the release forms from Doctor Elker and smiled. As soon 

as Doctor Elker left the room, I sprang out of bed, going over to the 

closet and rummaging through the clothes I had asked Rachel to get 

for me. Peter laughed and finished up signing the release forms. 

He’d give them to the nurse on the way out.

“Whoa, slow down there flash. Where do you think your going in 

such a hurry?”

I only laughed at Peter, he knew I didn’t like to stay put in one place 

for too long. Maybe that’s why Peter and I fit so well together.

“Well you know me Bishop; I can’t stay in one place too long. At 

least when it comes to hospitals. Now that you mention it, I don’t 

think I should be moving so fast. I’m still really, really sore.”

Lots of thoughts had occurred to me lately, but there was one that 

hadn’t come to mind yet. What Doctor Elker had just told Peter and 

I, maybe when Bell pulled my consciousness to the other side, it did 

something weird to my body. Like made Emily mature a month 

earlier. I shook my head creasing my forehead in deep thought.

“Something just occurred to me Peter. What if William Bell, when 

he pulled my consciousness to the other side, it did something weird 

to my body? Like made Emily mature a month earlier. It would 

explain why she’s of a normal weight and the size of a normal full-

term baby.”

I could see Peter’s eyes get wide and fear clouded over them as I 

gave him this piece of information. He continued staring at me as I 

gently pulled my shirt over my bra. Shaking my head, I now 

regretted saying it, though somehow, I knew that this was the truth. I 

had a hard time pulling my jeans up over my hips. Rachel had 

brought me the wrong ones. I wouldn’t be able to wear these until I 

got my ‘girlish’ figure back. Peter smirked at me and laughed a little.

“Need a little help there sweetheart?”

I glared Peter down like there was no tomorrow. He helped me pull 

them off and I slipped into the ones I’d come to the hospital in. A 

nurse came in with Emily and placed her into Peter’s arms. He was 

careful with her head as he held her. Emily gurgled at Peter as he 

held her. He laughed a little and spoke to her.

“Hi baby girl, are you ready to go and see what your new home 

looks like with mommy and daddy?”

Emily began to whimper and whine in Peter’s arms. I had learned to 

tell the difference about which cries were her ‘I’m hungry’ cries, 

‘I’m wet’, and the ‘I just want to be held cries.’ Those were 

definantly her ‘I just want to be held cries.’ Peter rocked her a bit 

and she seemed to calm down. When she was starting to get blinky, 

he set her down in her car seat. He placed her binky in her mouth so 

that she would relax and fall back asleep again.

I leaned up against the doorframe of the closet and soaked in the 

moment between father and daughter. There would be plenty more 

of those to come. Peter was such a natural father. Contrary, Peter 

had told me I was a mother naturally by heart. I struggled with my 

bag out of the closet. Peter saw me and grabbed it from me.

“Let me get that. I’ve got the baby, you take the discharge forms.”

I took the discharge forms from Peter and followed him out into the 

hallway with the help of my cane. When we got to the nurses’ 

station, a nurse smiled up at the both of us. I then handed her the 

forms.

“Alright Olivia you’re all set. You three take care now. Bye-bye 

Emily. You have the sweetest little angel.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. So, I only smiled and nodded 

my head. As Peter and I stepped into the elevator, he looked at me 

concerned. I shivered. No one disliked elevators more than me. I 

was afraid that at any moment, Bell would snatch me away to his 

world and I’d be in an elevator where he works.

“ ‘Livia, what is it? What’s wrong?”

Could I really tell him what I was feeling? Truly, could I? It wasn’t 

something I could open up to with him so easily. We were married 

yes, but there were still things that we kept from each other, I’m 

sure of it. I was beginning to panic, and my blood ran cold as the 

elevator seemed to hitch under our very feet. I couldn’t handle this. I 

had to get out. Peter noticed I was panicking when I frantically 

started pushing the ‘1’ button near the door. He had gently set Emily 

down and was now steadying my hand which was still pushing the 

button as if my life had depended on it.

“Peter, I can’t be in here. I don’t like being in this elevator. I have to 

get out.”

His eyes searched mine in an attempt to see what the matter with me 

was. It had been nearly three years since I had put up one of my 

protective barriers, shielding Peter from what was bothering me. We 

had gained complete trust and confidence in one another. My breath 

hitched as I began to shake. I didn’t want to be stuck in this elevator, 

especially when William Bell could get me. That scenario kept going 

around in my head and was making me dizzy. Peter grew worried.

“Olivia, honey, please answer me. You’re really starting to scare me. 

Tell me what’s wrong.”

My mind kept repeating a single thought. William Bell will pull you 

to his reality. You know he will. With that, you’ll leave behind your 

husband of three years and your newborn daughter. Finally the 

elevator dinged and the doors opened up, revealing the parking 

garage. I quickly stepped out into the garage, taking in a few breaths 

to calm myself. If that wasn’t the beginnings of a panic attack, then 

I don’t know what that was. Peter was now by my side and we were 

almost to the car. I’d tell him what was going on once we got in.

While gently cradling Emily in her car seat in one arm, he pushed the 

alarm to open up my truck. He opened up the front door for me and 

I carefully made my way into the passenger’s seat. I turned my head 

towards the back seat and watched as he made sure Emily was 

secured. I heard Peter speaking to her softly.

“You be daddy’s good little girl.”

I fumbled with my fingers as Peter gently shut the door in the back. 

The front door on the driver’s side opened up, and Peter slid in next 

to me. Before he turned the car on, he turned to me, a question on 

his lips. A smirk filled his handsome features. I knew what was 

coming.

“You know I’m just going to keep bugging you until you tell me 

what’s bothering you don’t you ‘Livia?”

I looked at him, frustration flashing across my face. Why the hell did 

he have to be so annoying all the time? Especially when I didn’t 

want to talk about things? I knew Peter could see the frustration 

clearly written across my face. But I wasn’t budging on the subject. I 

just wasn’t.

“Peter, it’s nothing really. I just don’t like being in elevators, that’s 

all. If it sounded like I was having a panic attack in the elevator, it’s 

because I was. I can’t stand elevators. Can we go home now?”

Peter knew that wasn’t the whole shook his head turning on the car, 

but not putting it into gear. He only kept the car on to keep us all 

warm in the freezing temperatures outside. I crossed my arms and 

avoided looking at him. I was startled when he turned my head so 

that I was facing him.

“I am not moving this car until you really tell me what’s going on. 

That’s not the whole story. Now really, I want to know what is 

going on with you? Did you see something? Have one of those weird 

visions of yours? Get one of those nasty headaches?”

I shook my head; it wasn’t any of those things at all. How could I 

tell him I was afraid that William Bell would come back and take me 

away again? He could come back for me any time? But so could 

those shape shifters.

“No I haven’t had any of those things Peter. Fine, you win. I’ll tell 

you. The elevator reminded me of when I went over to Bell’s reality. 

When I was driving to New York in my car. I was suddenly in a 

building with many other people for about thirty seconds or so and 

then it was just me. I was in a white building. Not even knowing it 

was the World Trade Center. He pulled me there Peter. That’s what 

happened to me when I fell into that seizure a couple of weeks ago. 

William Bell did that to me. It’s gotta be those stupid time slips.”

I knew my fears were irrational, but they were very real, and there 

was no avoiding them. Peter nodded his head okay and turned the 

key over in the ignition. The roar of the engine startled Emily and 

she began wailing in the back seat. Peter ran a hand over his face.

“To think I just got her to sleep too...”

I turned my body around so that I could face Emily. I pushed the 

visor down on her car seat, which was facing the opposite direction. 

Emily had to be faced head first towards us until she was old enough 

to be turned around. I tried to console her cries. Those weren’t her 

‘I’m wet’ cries, they were her ‘I’m hungry’ cries. I felt almost 

helpless against her cries. But by now, Peter and I were only a few 

blocks from home.

“It’s okay baby girl. Mama knows you’re hungry. Mama knows. I’ll 

feed you as soon as we get home. I promise.”

I managed to get her pacifier into her mouth and she seemed to 

quiet. I could hear her begin to hiccup. She was very upset. I felt bad 

that she was having tummy trouble already. Peter seemed a little 

relieved that she had stopped crying. Peter quickly glanced at me.

“Welcome to the rest of our life Olivia. No turning back now. First 

it’s the dirty diapers, being baptized, then the potty training, then off 

to preschool, then to kindergarten. And before we know it, she’ll be 

dating boys and then graduating from high school. She’ll move away 

and go to college, fall in love with some guy, get married, have a 

baby, and pretty soon, you and I will be called grandma and 

grandpa...”

I laughed at Peter; he was jumping way too far ahead into the future. 

How absurd was that? This was twenty years away! How could he 

be thinking like that now? I just want to enjoy watching Emily grow 

up. Along with any other children we may have together.

“Peter, sweetheart, I think you’re looking a little too far into the 

future on this one. Let’s enjoy the time we have with Emily. 

Watching her grow up, and hopefully she’ll have brothers and sisters 

to share her life with...”

Before I knew it, we were home. I sighed in relief as we came up to 

the enormous brick house. Our house. I carefully opened up the 

passenger side door and stepped out. I ignored the snow that had just 

seeped into my shoe. Limping to the front door, I turned around to 

see Peter, who seemed to be managing quite well with Emily. I 

smiled and turned back to the front door, getting my keys out of my 

pocket wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

As I opened up the front door, a rush of warm air greeted me. Was I 

ever glad to be home. Peter came in behind me and had just stomped 

his feet on the porch to get rid of the excess snow on his shoes. I had 

semi-tried to do the same. Peter was the first to call out to Walter.

“Hello? Is anybody home? Walter? We’re home.”

I was ready for a shower and my nice warm bed. I’d crawl into it 

after I’d had a hot shower and sleep for two weeks. Like that’s going 

to happen. Emily had to be fed every two hours. So I had to keep 

her on that schedule, or it would be in the toilet. I saw both Walter 

and Astrid come to greet us from the kitchen. A big smile was 

plastered on his face.

“Ah Peter, you’re home son. Agent Dunham. Glad to see you’re all 

here. Son, is it alright if I could hold Emily? Just for a moment’s 

time?”

Peter’s eyes widened as he shook his head no. I crossed my arms 

over my chest and stared at Peter. Shaking my head no at him, I 

looked at Emily who was about to spit out her pacifier and let me 

know once again, that she was still hungry.

“Peter, why not? You’d deny Walter holding his only granddaughter 

for just a few minutes? Just let him. He’s grown very attached to 

her. Remember right after I gave birth to her? How happy he was 

when he saw her? He said it reminded him of...”

Peter glared at me and didn’t let me finish my sentence. I shook my 

head some more. I didn’t want to argue with him in front of Walter 

and Emily. Or Astrid for that fact. Peter put a hand up.

“Yes, that it reminded him of the first time he held me after my 

mother gave birth to me. Yes, yes. I know that. (Turns to Walter) 

No Walter, you cannot hold Emily. Not right now anyways. She’s 

had a very long day, and Olivia’s getting ready to feed her.”

Walter’s face lit up at the mention of me feeding Emily. This time it 

was my turn to shake my head no. It was embarrassing to have 

Walter in the room as I fed Emily. So, it’d be better if he wasn’t in 

the room.

“I’m sorry Walter. But I just don’t feel comfortable feeding Emily 

while you’re in the room with me. No offense. You understand 

don’t you Walter?”

Walter’s face fell as I let him know my position on this situation. I 

felt bad that I was disappointing him, but I just wanted some bonding 

time with Emily and me. Peter could stay and watch if he wanted. 

Astrid sensing a battle between Peter and Walter intervened.

“Come on Walter. Let’s go into the kitchen and make some 

blueberry pancakes?”

Walter’s face lit up at the mention of blueberry pancakes. I laughed a 

little as he followed Astrid back into the kitchen. I could hear his 

response before the kitchen door closed behind him.

“I love blueberry pancakes... When do you think I’ll get to hold my 

granddaughter Agent Farnsworth?”

I sighed looking back at Peter with the word help written all over my 

face. He only gave me a warm smile and helped me up the stairs to 

our room. As we were making our way up the stairs, we didn’t have 

time to notice someone was watching the both of us from the living 

room window outside.

To Be Continued...


	7. Waking Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own Emily.

March 10th, 2012

There was darkness all around me, and I was starting to feel a little 

cold. Though it was dark, I could still hear Peter’s voice, and his 

comforting masculine voice, crooning endearments to me hoping that 

I would open my eyes. I could feel his hands on my cheeks, and 

then his lips brushing my neck ever so slightly. He was kissing me. I 

could feel it. His voice however still sounded very far away.

“Come on Livvy. Please wake up. What’s wrong with you? Walter 

won’t tell me what’s wrong. Whenever I ask him, he gets this weird 

look in his eyes. Like he’s afraid to tell me what’s happening to you. 

But I won’t give up. I can’t. Walter and I have been taking turns 

feeding Emily formula. She doesn’t seem to mind. Why won’t you 

wake up? What’s wrong?”

I heard Peter begin to sob and I felt him grab for my hands and hold 

them tightly. Should I respond back? I wondered if I could though. 

I’ve been in this place of darkness for what seems like forever. 

Somehow, though I think I was unconscious, but I was fully aware 

of my limbs. I heard Peter gasp about something, then yelling for 

Walter.

“Walter! Something just happened with Olivia!”

I could hear indistinct footfalls come into our bedroom. They were 

Walter’s, there was no mistaking that. His voice was filled with 

worry.

“What is it son? She seizing again?”

My mind went numb. Another seizure? How many more of these 

am I going to get anyways? I want them to go away! Peter was 

straightening my medical bracelet on my left wrist, I could feel it.

“No, Walter. She squeezed my hand. Does that mean something? 

(Turns his voice back to me.) One more time baby. Please. You can 

do it baby. I know you can. Squeeze my hand one more time...”

Peter was getting desperate. I could almost hear tears in his voice. I 

had never heard him this broken before. Peter was always the strong 

one. He’d after all, stuck it out through the birth and delivery of our 

daughter, though he was slightly grossed out about all the blood. 

Something suddenly snapped in my mind, and then my eyes shot 

open. Taking a deep breath in, I began to cough. Peter helped me 

into a sitting position, his eyes filled with tears.

“Olivia, what... What happened to you? Walter says you went into a 

coma... I hope it isn’t because of the mild concussion you have. I 

can’t believe that sick psycho did that to you... By the way, Walter 

doesn’t know about the other thing that happened to you. I’ll keep it 

just between us. I know how uncomfortable you get when Walter is 

around and it’s something very personal.”

I looked around me; I was still very confused on what was even 

going on... My first instinct was to check and see that Emily was 

alright. Was she alright? I turned to Peter, fear and anxiety written 

across my face.

“Peter, is Emily okay?”

Peter gave me a comforting smile and went over to Emily’s crib, 

taking her out of it ever so gently. She squirmed in Peter’s arms and 

began to cry. Those were her ‘I’m hungry’ cries. As Peter placed 

her in my arms, I glared up at Walter, who was looking at me 

excitedly and expectantly. Oh no he wasn’t. No way in hell was he 

staying in this room while I breastfed Emily. In my eyes, he didn’t 

have the privilege. I turned my attention back to Emily, cooing at 

her as I did.

“Come on Emily, it’s time to eat. Yes mama knows you’re hungry. 

Just a second sweetie.”

Walter grew excited still. I glared him down. I had told him many 

times I had been uncomfortable with him in the room while I fed 

Emily, but to no avail.

“Oh agent Dunham, may I be allowed to participate in this activity?”

I shook my head no at Walter.

“Sorry Walter, it’s like I said before, I don’t feel comfortable having 

you in the room with me half-way exposed.”

Walter seemed to pout as Peter led him out of the room. He shut the 

door to our room as soon as Walter was out of it. He turned back to 

me and smiled, though his eyes had a sad quality about them.

“Now that we have Walter out of the room, let’s give you two some 

mommy/Emily time. I’ll be right here ‘Livia. I won’t leave you, I 

promise. Here let me help you with that. There we go. Whoa, would 

you look at that? Emily’s got an appetite on her.”

I smirked at Peter, and then continued to watch Emily suckle at my 

breast. She was very content with her spot where she was. I felt 

Peter’s hand go to my semi-naked back. I still get chills every time 

he does that. My skin on my entire body prickled with goosebumps. 

I breathed deep to suppress a moan of pleasure. I smiled playfully 

poking Peter in the ribs with my free hand, while the other 

supporting Emily’s eating form.

“It’ll have to be more than that to arouse me Bishop. A lot more.”

Peter’s face now held a full-fledged smile. My smile disappeared, 

what was I doing? But Peter hadn’t noticed a thing; he was too busy 

kissing my neck to see the look on my face. I tensed a little as 

Peter’s lips moved lower, towards my shoulder. I sighed frustrated.

“What’s the matter Livvy?”

Though Peter asked me this question, he knew all the right ways to 

change my mood quickly. I was trying very hard to control my 

sexual urges. I was careful with Emily as I tried to push him away 

with my free hand. He had nearly made it down to my stomach.

“Peter, stop. It’s not that I don’t appreciate what you are trying to 

do Peter, it’s just we can’t do this now. Remember what you told 

me in the hospital? That we wouldn’t be doing anything of this 

nature, including sex, until I was completed healed over from giving 

birth. You know that sweetheart.”

Now it was Peter’s turn to sigh in frustration. He smiled at me 

weakly, defeated almost by my words. He settled with a kiss to my 

lips, which somehow seemed to turn deep. I pulled away, even 

though I really didn’t want to. Peter looked at me apologetically, but 

I knew he wasn’t sorry for kissing me the way he just did.

“Sorry Liv. Had to get that last one out of my system. Well, would 

you look at that, our little miracle is sleeping, but still trying to eat?”

Peter carefully and gently pulled Emily away from my breast. Peter 

frowned a little as she began to suckle the air, thinking she was still 

getting her meal from me. She opened up her eyes and began to wail 

at the top of her lungs. He sighed heavily as he helped guide Emily 

back to my breast so that she could finish off her meal.

“Guess she’s still hungry.”

I nodded my head wearily. I was getting tired, and Emily was getting 

very heavy. But she kept eating. After awhile, I myself was starting 

to doze off. My head lulled a few times, startling me awake. I was 

just falling back into a light slumber when I began to feel very sore. I 

hadn’t felt this before. I winced and opened up my eyes. Peter saw 

the look on my face and his eyes filled with concern.

“What is it ‘Livia? Does something hurt?”

I nodded my head and bit my lip. Emily was now completely asleep, 

so Peter was attempting to pull her away from my breast, and this 

time with success. He gently carried her over to her crib and lie her 

down in it. But not before giving her a light kiss on the forehead. 

When he got back on the bed with me, I told him how I felt.

“Yeah. I’m just a little sore from using my left breast to feed Emily. 

I think I should change. After reading that book on breast feeding 

babies that Rachel gave me, experts say that it’s always good to keep 

switching out. Overuse of one breast over the other can strain the 

flow of the milk.”

Peter smirked. He thought he knew everything. Well, his IQ was 

190\. He was smarter than a genius. He certainly knew more than I 

did about things.

Flashback...

... The room was completely devoid of any coloring, and there were 

medical instruments everywhere. Some frightened me. As I lie here 

on the medical examining table, nearly shivering to death in this 

awful and skimpy hospital gown, Peter gave me a reassuring and 

comforting smile.

“Don’t worry ‘Livia. I’m sure when the doctor comes in; she’ll let 

us know what she’s found. We’ll have a baby. I promise. Relax.”

How could I relax? My whole body was tense with nervousness. 

Peter’s hand seemed to calm me as my new OB stepped into the 

room, Doctor Elker. Her smile was bright as she looked at me, and 

in her hands was my medical file. It had everything about me in 

there. What immunizations I’ve had, my accident from a year ago, 

where I was thrown from my windshield of my car from William 

Bell’s reality, my dislocated right hip, and that I tried already 

unsuccessfully to get pregnant three times. I took a deep breath, 

relaxing myself. 

“Oh, it’s perfectly understandable to be nervous Olivia. I’m Doctor 

Elker. I’ll be looking after you, if and when we find out that you 

are pregnant. According to your medical records, it says that 

you’ve tried unsuccessfully three times to conceive?”

I nodded my head biting my lip still very nervous. I wanted to be 

pregnant more than anything. A baby would complete both Peter 

and I. Doctor Elker turned on a machine which looked strangely 

like a television screen. What was she going to do now? I answered 

her question.

“Yes, three times. Peter and I tried, but it just didn’t work. I’m 

hoping that whatever you find, it’ll be good news. What are you 

going to do to me? You’re not going to stick a kind of microscope 

with a camera on the end inside of me are you?”

Doctor Elker nodded her head yes at me. She took something that 

looked like a long snake. I cringed and looked back at Peter 

grabbing his hand tightly. I kept myself calm as she went about 

doing her business. 

“Take a deep breath in and relax yourself. What I’m going to do is 

put this camera inside of you to see if we can find anything. This 

might be a little uncomfortable, so try and relax.”

I nodded my head and bit my lip even more as Doctor Elker put the 

camera inside of me. This was uncomfortable. I turned to the black 

and white screen off to the side of me. Was that the inside of my 

uterus? 

“Mmm, that’s uncomfortable...”

Doctor Elker gave me an apologetic look and continued to search 

the screen for what she was looking for. I fiddled with my wedding 

ring on my left hand, trying to avoid what was going on. Doctor 

Elker turned back to me and smiled.

“Well, I think congratulations are in order here. If you’d take a 

look at the screen, I’d like to show you two something. You see this 

little dot right here? That’s your baby. Congratulations to the both 

of you.”

Tears were shining in my eyes and Peter pulled me in for a kiss. I 

hadn’t had time to notice that the doctor was taking out the 

‘microscope’ with the camera on the end. It was truly a miracle. 

Half the battle was over. We finally had a baby. 

End of flashback...

“...Olivia, what is it? What are you thinking of?”

I smiled warmly at Peter, this had been one in many happy 

memories Peter and I had shared. It overshadowed the children we 

had lost before then. The heartbreak was worse, but the joy seemed 

to blind all that.

“Just thinking about the day we found out about Emily. Happiest 

moment in my life. We finally had a baby of our own. Our miracle.”

Peter gave me a genuine smile and kissed my forehead. I think he’s 

just glad I was awake now. But what did that mean now? I knew 

that just because I’ve had three weeks of peace from the shape 

shifters, doesn’t mean they aren’t still after me.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 11th, 2012 12 midnight

I was having the most wonderful dream. Peter and I were in this 

large meadow. We were having a picnic under a large oak tree, and 

Emily is taking her first steps towards us. I hadn’t even noticed that I 

was talking in my sleep.

“It’s okay Emily... Come to mommy...”

I felt pain in my back suddenly, and by reflex grabbed onto Peter, 

though I think I’m still dreaming. I was jolted awake when I heard 

Peter and Walter yelling at each other. What was going on? And why 

does my back hurt so badly?

To Be Continued...


	8. A Possible Solution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own Emily.

March 11th, 2012 12:05 a.m.

“Walter! What are you doing giving Olivia a spinal tap for! Are you 

taking spinal fluid from her? What the hell is wrong with you!”

I tensed up at the mention of a spinal tap. What the hell is Walter 

thinking anyways? I could feel the needle moving around under my 

skin. I held onto Peter tighter. Walter was now yelling at Peter.

“My boy, this may very well save agent Dunham’s life! I just need a 

little bit of her spinal fluid to test it for a possible solution for getting 

all the Cortexiphan out of her system! Right now you are being of no 

assistance to me, so you either help me get this fluid from Olivia or 

get out!”

I tried very hard to fight back the tears and swallow the pain that I 

was feeling, but it was almost too much for me to handle all at once. 

I let out a long pained sob and Peter tried desperately to pull me into 

his arms.

“It’s alright ‘Livia. I’m right here. I’m stopping this right now. I 

don’t want to see you in anymore pain. (Looks to Walter) Walter. 

Stop. No more. Can’t you see Olivia is in a lot of pain? You don’t 

seem to realize that she is still recovering from giving birth, so she’s 

still in a lot of pain from that. You’re only making matters worse 

Walter. Can’t this wait until she at least gets her strength back?”

Walter seemed to ignore Peter completely, continuing to take fluid 

from me. Finally, I could take it no longer; I let out a blood-curdling 

shriek of pain. I felt Peter leaning over me, and Walter was trying to 

say something to me.

“Nearly done agent Dunham.”

Peter was still leaning over me, and I heard him knock something out 

of Walter’s hands. I could feel the needle in my back come out. My 

shrieks became whimpers as Peter threw the needle in the trash can. 

I knew now, that he was fed up with Walter’s extremist ways of 

helping me.

“Walter you’re done. I want you out of this room right now. I don’t 

want you laying a single hand on my wife again!”

Concern filled my eyes as Peter said these words. He said them in 

anger. He really didn’t mean to tell his father these words at all. 

Though as strange as things were between Walter and Peter, I knew 

that they both knew that they’d always be a family no matter what. I 

carefully looked over my shoulder and watched Walter leave, 

defeated and shoulders slumped downwards. My tearful whimpering 

cries pained Peter deeply, I could tell.

“Please don’t let him do that to me again! Please Peter! I don’t want 

to hurt like this anymore! Please just make it stop! It... I-It hurts!”

Peter himself now had tears in his eyes and was rocking me back 

and forth. For some reason I felt like I was being a big baby about all 

of this. I gasped and looked up at Peter, it was hard to move. How 

much had Walter taken from me? I looked into Peter’s eyes, fright 

filling them.

“Peter, it’s hard to move. What’s wrong with me?”

His face seemed to pale as I told him this... What did Walter do to 

me! A sea of anger flashed before his eyes. He was still very upset at 

Walter. I tried to shake it off as nothing and moved ever so slightly, 

but I was so stiff.

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure out another way to get all the Cortexiphan 

out of your system, but by means other than taking your spinal fluid. 

He doesn’t have to always resort to these kinds of tactics, I mean the 

man has to find another way of getting it out of your system 

completely without hurting you.”

I nodded my head, still sniffling. I felt so vulnerable. With all the 

stuff that’s been going on, car accident a month ago, Emily’s birth 

two weeks ago, my stepfather roaming around my house drunk as 

hell, and now Walter was trying to find a way to get the Cortexiphan 

out of me. I shook my head, my tears nearly drying up. I knew there 

would be more tears, because I was going through post-partum 

depression.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep Peter. I keep having these 

horrible nightmares. Walter needs to find another solution to this.”

Maybe it was just all in my head that I couldn’t move. After all, I 

was still very stiff from giving birth. But that didn’t explain my entire 

body. I knew that when I gave birth it would only be my lower half. 

I could not help but turn my gaze back up to Peter, who held me in 

his arms lovingly. Protectively.

“Shh. It’s alright Liv. I think it’s best if you go back to sleep. I’ll be 

right here if you need anything. Don’t worry; I’ll have a talk with 

Walter in the morning about finding and alternate solution to our little 

dilemma. But where does that leave Emily? Walter had originally 

said he was going to draw amniotic fluid from you, which would 

have been a little less painful. But since Emily is already here, that 

makes it a little more difficult.”

I curled up in as tight a ball as I could in Peter’s arms and tried to fall 

asleep. Though there was something else that was bothering me, but 

I pushed it aside. I was finally dozing off, and I still felt Peter’s 

strong arms around me. I was now having the strangest dream. Or 

was it a memory I’d forgotten about? Instead of everything being in 

color, the room and everyone in it was black and white.

I was in the lab, and apparently I was sleeping. Peter was hovering 

over me like a hawk. He was wiping the sweat away from my 

forehead. My head moved from side to side and I was moaning 

softly. My hands were gripping at the sides of the bed I was lying on. 

I watched myself in horror as I put my feet up on the bed. What was 

I doing? I grimaced as a dark substance began to pool out of me. 

Blood. Peter’s face took on a horrified and disgusted look. I 

continued to watch myself.

I covered my mouth once I realized what was happening to me. I 

was having a baby. I didn’t even look it though. I was as thin as I 

ever was. No indication I was ever pregnant in the first place. I 

watched myself as I continued to push the baby out. The baby 

landed with a plop into Peter’s hands. I was horrified and yet, I 

couldn’t look away. How had this come to be anyways? 

The baby’s crying indicated that the baby was in some pain. I now 

found my dream self looking at the baby confused and a bit worried. 

There was something strange about his left foot. So I had a boy? 

Peter himself looked worried as he turned his attention back to me. 

The baby had clubfoot. He placed the boy in my arms, and I held 

him, trying to soothe his cries of pain. Fifteen minutes seemed to go 

by and the nameless baby boy in my arms went eerily silent. I 

covered my mouth and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see 

anymore of this. I uncovered my eyes and looked to Peter.

“He’s gone Liv. There was nothing we could do for him”.

I woke up with a start. That was the most horrifying dream I’d ever 

had in my life. No. It wasn’t a dream at all. It was a memory, and 

this really did happen. Sweat was completely covering my entire 

body. Peter turned my head so that I was facing him.

“That was some dream you were having ‘Livia. What was it about? 

You can tell me, we all have nightmares at some point.”

I hadn’t noticed, but I was slowly beginning to rock back and forth. I 

haven’t been that scared in a long time... My arms wrapped around 

my legs, and my face filled with worry. Peter caught on and pushed 

a few strands of blond hair from my eyes.

“Peter it was horrible... I wasn’t dreaming... I was remembering... 

Do you remember that baby I had three years back?”

Peter grimaced and nodded his head at me somberly. He knew what 

I was talking about. He knew that it pained me to talk about it, but it 

still haunted me and I needed to get my feelings out in the open.

“You mean the baby boy you gave birth to with clubfoot and cleft 

palate? The one you seemingly gave birth to out of “thin air”? You 

know there was really nothing we could do for him... That baby was 

in pain. I know you went to great lengths to try and calm him, but 

nothing worked...”

I stared blankly at the wall beyond Peter. He didn’t know... He 

hadn’t known what I felt that day... But then again, maybe he had... 

We’d already lost three children together... He knew the pain and the 

anguish. My voice hardly sounded like mine as I gave Peter my 

response.

“That little boy was so light in my arms... I tried everything I could 

to soothe his painful cries. Feeding him hadn’t worked... And when 

he died I... I...”

Peter pulled me closer to him, he knew what was coming and didn’t 

want me to say anymore. His tears for me were real. Like everything 

else in my messed up life, this was one thing that would forever 

haunt me. I dried my eyes as Emily began to wail from her crib on 

Peter’s side of the bed. I still had Emily to be thankful for. She had 

turned out just perfect. Peter put a hand on my shoulder to stop me 

from getting up.

“I’ll get her. You’ve already got enough to worry about.”

Peter made the short trip over to Emily’s crib and picked her up out 

of it. She was flailing miserably in her father’s arms. He only looked 

at her trying to calm her cries. Those weren’t her ‘I’m hungry’ cries, 

they weren’t her ‘I’m wet’ cries, and they weren’t her ‘hold me’ 

cries either. So I wondered what the matter was. I guess I’d have to 

try all three things. Peter did his best to sound soothing.

“Ya Emily. Ya. It’s okay, daddy’s got ya. I’ve got ya.”

Peter gently placed Emily into my arms, who was still flailing, and 

pitching an absolute fit. I tried cooing at her, but her cries only 

seemed to get louder still. I rocked her a little to see if that would 

calm her down, but to no avail. She cried at the top of her lungs, 

each cry more piercing than the last. I tried a different approach, 

checking her diaper to make sure she wasn’t wet. Nope. She wasn’t 

wet. My final approach to all this, feeding her. I carefully undid the 

buttons on my night and exposed my breast so that Emily could eat. 

I guided her towards me, hoping that she would latch on and start to 

suckle. She did no such thing. She only screamed louder. Now I was 

at a total loss as to what she wanted... So I began to beg with her.

“Emily, please. You’ve got to eat something! Mommy doesn’t know 

what you want... You’re not hungry, wet or just want to be held... 

Please, just tell mommy what you want...”

I felt like I was on the edge of having a nervous breakdown... Peter 

took Emily from my arms as I straightened myself out, fixing the 

buttons on my nightgown... His face filled with worry, he kept 

rocking her back and forth, hoping that by his voice, soothing as it 

was, would help her go back to sleep.

“What’s wrong with little Emily? Come on, you can tell daddy 

what’s the matter. What’s the matter sweetheart? It’s alright, are you 

scared of something?”

Emily’s endless crying seemed to come to a complete halt suddenly. 

Peter gave me a relieved look, but at the same time was still worried. 

Emily began to start up again. He would have to keep talking until 

she fell asleep again. I looked at him with a confused look on my 

face.

“How’d you do that Peter? How’d you get her to stop crying?”

Peter shrugged his shoulders and kept rocking Emily back and forth. 

He was pacing around the room to keep her calm. She was still 

screaming at the top of her lungs. His patience would soon wear thin 

as I would find out.

“It’s okay Emily. Daddy is right here. Just close your eyes and go to 

sleep. Daddy isn’t going anywhere. Go to sleep little one. Daddy is 

right here. I promise not to leave you. You’ve been giving mommy 

and daddy such a hard time lately. Are you getting sick?”

Emily was getting blinky. With his left hand, Peter felt her forehead 

with the back of it. He shook his head no at me. My face paled. 

What? What’s wrong with Emily? She was unusually flush, and not 

from crying either.

“What Peter. What’s wrong with Emily?”

Peter kept shaking his head at me. This was driving me insane with 

him shaking his head ten-thousand times at me. I was getting upset 

with Peter, and my patience with him worn as thin as rice paper.

“She’s got a fever Olivia. We should get her to Walter. Maybe he 

can give her something to make her feel better.”

I shook my head at Peter; no way in hell was I letting Walter touch 

my child. Not after what he tried to do to me tonight. A sense of 

dread was slowly building in my stomach. But somehow, Peter could 

erase all my doubt. He had begun to have some faith in his father, no 

matter how crazy.

Well, one thing for sure was, a possible solution to getting the 

Cortexiphan out of my system was out of the question right now. 

Emily was more important, and getting her fever down was top 

priority right now over me. I just hoped Peter was right in trusting 

Walter with our Emily.

To Be Continued...


	9. Shape Shifting Intruders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own Emily.

March 11th, 2012 4:35 a.m.

Emily’s fever has finally broken. Walter had said to just keep seeing if she 

would try and eat, and putting cool compress’ small enough for her head 

to cool her down. Peter and I are taking turns holding her, trying to 

comfort her as best we can. Holding Emily now and trying to comfort her, 

only made my heart ache with grief. This is the fifth shirt I’ve had to 

change in the last three hours. Emily has either vomited all over me or 

spit up. What she does eat from me, not very much stays down. Now 

instead of her having a fever, her little tummy hurts. I don’t blame her. My 

stomach would hurt too if I were sick. Rocking her to sleep was all I could 

think of. Peter looked over at me and motioned that he’d take Emily for a 

little while so that I could rest. But I couldn’t ask him to do that. Emily 

was my responsibility. Peter only shook his head at me. We both needed 

sleep. The dark circles under Peter’s eyes made it look like he hadn’t 

slept in months. Reluctantly I placed Emily into his arms and flopped 

down on the bed. My voice sounded whiny in comparison to my normal 

confident voice.

“Babe, you need sleep too... Let me just take care of her a little longer. 

Besides, I think I may be able to get her to eat this time and hopefully it’ll 

stay down.”

Peter arched his eyebrow at me, but I gave it a counteractive move. 

Arching my eyebrow as well. Challenging him. I knew what he was 

thinking. 

Sometimes I think my husband has a one track mind... I smiled 

momentarily as Peter rocked Emily and walked around the room at the 

same time. He hadn’t had to change his shirt half as many times as me, 

two shirts to my five. He’s only had to change his shirt twice.

“No ‘Livia, you need the sleep more than I do. Besides, I think she needs 

some daddy/Emily time to herself. You on the other hand mommy, need 

to get some sleep. I’ll wake you in a few hours to change shifts. Don’t 

worry, I’ve made sure every door, every window in the house is locked up 

tight. I also made sure Walter didn’t leave the garage door open again. You 

know how he likes to go out through the garage to get the newspaper 

instead of the front door. I’ll have a talk with the old man later about that. 

It’s driving me insane.”

I smiled quietly at Peter and let myself drift off to sleep, hoping that this 

would be the best rest I’ve had in two weeks.   
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I must have been too tired to hear something fall hard to the carpet next to 

the bed with a thud, and two men at the foot of it, one holding Emily.

“What are your immediate orders sir?”

This Olivia Dunham was not one to tangle with, but luckily for us, we’ve 

given her just enough of the serum for her to remain unconscious. My 

associate roughly shoved Dunham into my arms.

“Take her to an undisclosed warehouse location in Watertown. There’s a 

black van waiting for you in front of these living quarters. Once you arrive 

at the warehouse, tell Doctor Whitten to start the testing immediately.”

I nodded my head fiercely at my associate and carried Agent Dunham 

downstairs making sure I didn’t wake the mad scientist down the hall. 

Though I think the old man is going stone deaf he won’t hear a thing, even 

if there was a struggle going on. The black vehicle was stationed outside 

as ordered by my associate. I smirked; wouldn’t Dunham be horrified if 

she woke up and found herself in the arms of a man she’s despised since 

childhood? Wouldn’t that be a twist? Taking the form of her stepfather had 

been relatively easy. I took him down in his sleep. I knew I wouldn’t last 

much longer in this body though, that is why I need Agent Dunham. But if 

she does not prove useful, we’ll dump her body in the river and try 

another. 

Opening the door to the van and shoving Dunham inside, I quickly jumped 

in, closing it behind me.

“Our drop-off location of Dunham will be an undisclosed warehouse in 

Watertown. You have directions? Drive.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 11th, 2012 8:35 a.m.

I must have fallen asleep on the floor again. My back is killing me. The 

baby must be with Olivia. I smiled quietly and opened up my eyes. I 

hoisted myself up off the carpeting, only to find that Olivia and Emily 

were not in the bed right before my eyes.

My heart began to race frantically. Okay, get it together Bishop. They 

could be anywhere in the house. I went over to the bathroom thinking 

that maybe Olivia was giving Emily a bath. Everything was still in place. 

Emily’s bathtub was in its rightful place. Usually Olivia would take that 

into the kitchen and give Emily her bath in the kitchen sink.

I quickly turned off the light in the bathroom and went downstairs. Maybe 

she’s just feeding Emily down here. It would make sense if she didn’t 

want to make any noise. I scanned the living room; nothing in there had 

been touched. All the blankets were still folded up nicely. The remotes on 

the coffee table hadn’t budged an inch, and neither had the coffee cup with 

cold coffee Olivia had left from the previous night.

I shook my head. Usually Olivia was cleaner than this. She doesn’t 

leave dirty dishes on the table. But I’ll cut her some slack. She hasn’t 

had much time to keep things tidy around here lately. My last stop 

would be the kitchen. My heart began to pound wildly in my chest, like a 

freight train running over 100 miles an hour. I opened up the swinging 

door to the kitchen and found nothing in there out of the ordinary.

No Olivia or Emily. They aren’t here. I felt myself going into panic 

mode. I had to keep it together. I had to stop myself from 

hyperventilating. I took a deep breath, though it didn’t seem to ease the 

pace of my heart. I began to yell, not caring if Walter was still sleeping or 

not. We needed to find Olivia!

“OLIVIA! Answer me sweetheart! Where are you?”

I took the stairs by twos and pounded on Walter’s door. I barged in not 

even bothering to ask the old man if he was even halfway decent. I sighed 

in frustration and rubbed a hand over my face. Why did the man have to 

sleep naked for crying out loud! 

“Walter wake up! Make yourself decent. Someone’s taken Olivia. We 

need to call Broyles and let him know what’s going on.”

Walter looked up at me half-asleep. When he nodded his head I turned 

back towards the door to his room. Not looking at him, I heard him speak.

“Do you know where they’ve taken agent Dunham son? Was there anything 

medically involved, and if so that would be wonderful!”

I glared at Walter. Now was not the time to be pondering something like 

that. Before I shut the door behind me I gave him my reply.

“Walter just get dressed. Now is not really the time for that Walter! And 

only you would ask something like that! No I don’t know who took her! 

Now get dressed while I get a hold of Broyles.”

Shutting the door behind me, I made my way back to our room. It seemed 

so empty in here without Olivia and the baby. I sighed in frustration and 

anger as I grabbed my cell phone to dial Broyles’ number. I listened to the 

dial tones. Come on Broyles’ pick up! Finally I heard Broyles’s stern 

voice on the other end.

“Broyles here. Bishop you had better have a good reason for calling me on 

a Saturday while I’m at the country club.”

I swallowed. The man could be very intimidating sometimes. I just had to 

relay the facts to him as they pertained to what I knew. I shook my head. 

None of this made sense. The shape shifters must have taken her! But 

that means we don’t have much time! 

“Sir, Olivia’s been kidnapped. I was knocked unconscious and then she was 

taken. They took Emily too. I have a feeling a couple of shape shifters 

took her and Emily. But it’s only a theory.”

Broyles’ silence on the other end of the line told me he was trying to 

assess the problem I was giving him. The longer we waited though, the 

less time Olivia had to live. We had to get to her before those shape 

shifters killed her.

“Alright Bishop. I’ll assemble a team and be over to your place within 20 

minutes. And one more thing Bishop, we’ll find Olivia.”

I heard Broyles hang up from the other end. I slowly let the breath out I 

had been unknowingly holding in for the past few minutes. Walter was 

downstairs now and looking at me with worry.

“Did you get a hold of Agent Broyles son?”

I nodded my head, but now time wasn’t on my side. We were always one 

step behind everything when it came to saving people.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------  
2:35 p.m.

I was getting fed up with all these FBI agents scouring our house for clues 

of who might have taken Olivia and Emily. I sat on the couch with my head 

in my hands. All I could think about was Olivia and Emily.

Olivia must be so scared. But knowing my wife, she could be as tough as 

nails and kick all those men in the balls if she really felt like it. She was a 

vicious woman when she was angry. Most of them had found a few 

fragments of clothing in our room. One was a piece of Olivia’s nightgown. 

Broyles strode over to me, serious as ever, but his voice had confidence.

“We’ve located the warehouse where Olivia was taken. It’s in the 4600 

block of Watertown. But it seems both Emily and Olivia have since 

disappeared as of fifteen minutes ago. The warehouse is completely 

empty. 

I’ve sent a few agents ahead to scour the banks of the Charles River to 

see if maybe they dumped both Olivia and the baby there.”

My heart almost skipped a beat. My wife wasn’t dead. I knew Olivia. She 

was strong. She could withstand most things. Walter came up next to me 

and put a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off.

“Oh son, there is only one possible outcome if they find Agent Dunham 

and Emily on the banks of the Charles River, they’re dead.”

I turned to Walter, my eyes burning with tears and anger. I wasn’t going to 

accept that they were dead, because they weren’t. I knew that they were 

alive. They had to be. He didn’t know if they were dead, and this was not 

the case. They were alive. I know they are. 

“Walter don’t say that! I know my wife and Emily are alive! Why do you 

always have to resort to the worst possible scenarios anyways?”

Walter closed his mouth and didn’t say anymore to me. I think he’s afraid 

to. My love for both Olivia and the baby was strong. It was snowing 

outside, but I knew that we’d find them both safely.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------  
4:35 p.m.

I felt myself being thrown from the back of a van. Cold water was lapping 

at my feet. I lie there in the cold snow daring not to move. I looked around myself, why was I on the banks of 

the Charles River for? And where was Peter? I began to scream, hoping 

that if Peter was nearby, he’d come to my rescue.

“HELP! PETER! Please help me!”

I looked around frantically for Emily, but she was nowhere to be found. I 

listened to see if I could hear her cries, but all I heard was the river 

lapping at my feet and a tree branch breaking somewhere off in the 

distance. My whole world was falling apart... 

To Be Continued...


	10. Returned and Unharmed: but wrong baby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own Emily and alter-Emily.

March 13th, 2012 5:30 a.m.

Heaven above with all the angels, what a nightmare. My head was 

 

throbbing, but I hadn’t the slightest reason as to why. I crack open my eyes 

 

but close them when blinding light hurts them. I feel hands on my cheeks 

 

and then a deep, soothing voice. Peter. 

 

“It’s okay sweetheart. Try again.”

 

I shook my head no, it was too bright and I didn’t want to open up my eyes. 

Why had Peter intentionally left the bedroom light on? Sure, Emily 

 

could sleep with it on, but I sure as hell couldn’t. I found my voice was 

 

raw and hoarse.

 

“No, Peter. Turn the light off. Why did you turn it on anyways? Is Emily 

 

hungry?”

 

Peter didn’t say anything at first. Then as if something had slugged me in 

 

the face with the force of ten-thousand fists, everything came flooding 

 

back to me in a rush of memories. Emily wasn’t here... Those shape 

 

shifters still had her... Wait, she was gone... At least according to the 

 

shape shifter who stole my stepfather’s skin... I opened up my eyes to let 

 

them adjust to the light.

 

“ ‘Livia, you’re at Boston General. We’re not at home. (Smiles) I do have 

 

some good news though. Emily was found unharmed, outside the hospital. 

 

Though I don’t know why they chose to place her in the dumpster out 

 

back. Did they think she was something to throw away?”

 

Peter was holding a sleeping Emily in his arms. But how could I be so 

 

sure that it was really her? That’s just it, I couldn’t. I stared at the wall 

 

beyond Peter. It couldn’t be her. It just couldn’t be her. We’d been 

 

separated for far too long already.

 

“That’s not our Emily Peter. Emily is gone. That’s what the shape shifter 

 

that took my stepfather’s skin said. He said that she was gone and that he’d 

 

be happy to help me join her. I had been almost willing to take it. I still 

 

think about it.”

 

I momentarily turned my gaze back to Peter. His face was filled with fear 

 

and worry. He’d seen me in this kind of state only one other time before. 

 

After my car accident in New York. Wait a minute. There was something 

 

different about Emily. What was it? I looked her over carefully. The 

 

star-shaped birthmark on her forehead was on the left side instead of 

 

the right. What was going on? Realization dawned on me. This wasn’t 

our Emily. This was alter-Emily. That means those twisted freaks still had

my Emily. Peter seemed to catch onto what I was doing. 

 

Now he was deeply concerned.

 

“Olivia, what is it? Is there something wrong with Emily?”

 

How could Peter not see it? How could he not see that this wasn’t our 

 

Emily? Peter placed alter-Emily into my arms hoping it would comfort 

 

me. I wasn’t comforted in the slightest. This Emily was identical in every 

 

way to our own, except for the star-shaped birthmark on the left side of 

 

her forehead. Shaking my head I turned my attention back to Peter.

 

“Peter, don’t you see it? This isn’t our Emily. This must be the Emily 

 

from William Bell’s reality. Everything is identical down to her eyes, and 

 

ten toes and ten fingers. But look at the difference in her forehead. Our 

 

Emily has this exact star-shaped birthmark on the right side of her 

 

forehead. This Emily has it on the left. Peter, this is alter-Emily. This 

 

means that those shifters still have our Emily. We have to find her Peter, 

 

before they kill her!”

 

I was getting hysterical. I couldn’t help it though. My baby was still out 

 

there. She was in William Bell’s reality now. I had to get to her before 

 

something went terribly wrong. Peter’s hands grabbed for my Emily and 

 

he placed her back into the plastic basinet next to the bed. I felt like I was 

 

losing my mind. Suddenly, I couldn’t think. My mind was clouded over. I 

 

could hear Peter’s voice though very faint.

 

“Olivia! What’s wrong? Oh god another seizure! I need some help in here 

 

please!”

It was dark now, wherever I was. I could see nothing in front of me, or 

 

behind me. I had never been more afraid of the dark than I am right 

 

now. I couldn’t see a thing in front me of. A noise startled me and made 

 

my heart begin to race. 

 

“Who’s there? Answer me who ever you are!”

I got no response from whoever was in the dark place with me. All I 

 

could hear was deep raspy breathing. What was this place? Just as my 

 

fear was reaching its peak, I felt a piercing shock to my heart. Peter’s 

 

voice was faint, but getting stronger. 

 

“Doctor, what brought this on? I want some answers!”

 

My eyes opened just in time to see Peter almost at a tall male doctor’s 

 

throat. I could hear alter-Emily screaming at the top of her lungs. She was 

 

very scared. None of the doctors that were in the room seemed to notice 

 

that I was ‘awake’. I reached into the plastic basinet holding the screaming 

 

alter-Emily. She calmed a little in my arms, but was still screaming. I 

 

rocked her a little trying to keep her calm. Peter kept on fighting with the 

 

tall male doctor.

 

“You tell me right now what’s going on with my wife! I want some 

 

answers out of you!”

 

I could only stare in horror at the man I called my husband. I’d never seen 

 

him this violent before, but Peter when he got angry sometimes, it got the 

 

better of him. Especially if they were cruel. I felt like the little timid wife 

 

that was always too afraid to speak up. But Peter was only looking out for 

 

my wellbeing. I braved into what would be a quick snapping match between 

 

the both of us.

 

“Peter! That’s enough! Your scaring Emily! She’s screaming because 

 

you’re scaring her! Calm down right now!”

 

I shook my head as I saw Peter had the tall doctor by the collar of his 

 

shirt, ready to throw a few punches in his direction. His expression 

 

softened and he now had tears in his eyes. I could see he was now ashamed 

 

of what he had just done. Peter tried to get closer to me, but I wouldn’t let 

 

him.

 

“Go take a walk Peter. Just go. You need time to cool off. I’m fine. Go.”

 

I was upset with him and at the same time worried. Maybe all this with the 

 

shape shifters still having Emily had something to do with it. He usually 

 

wasn’t this tense. Alter-Emily seemed to be calming down. I sighed in 

 

relief. Though now she was becoming whiny. She’s hungry. Well, I don’t 

 

think alter-Olivia would mind if I fed her baby. We are the same person 

 

after all. I carefully undid the front of my hospital gown and watched as 

 

alter-Emily began to suckle at my breast. I listened to her happy gurgles. I 

 

wonder what alter-me is like? Is she that much different from me. My 

 

face grew red and embarrassment filled my eyes to the point of crying as 

 

Walter came into the room unannounced. His face lit up when he saw me 

 

feeding alter-Emily.

 

“Oh, I was hoping I’d get to see this. You know agent Dunham, 

 

breastfeeding a child, especially an infant as tiny as Emily here, is one of 

 

the most rewarding things you can do for her as a mother. In fact, I 

 

remember right after Peter was born how anxious he always was to get the 

 

chance to suckle at his mother’s breast...”

 

I didn’t let Walter finish. As fascinating as this was, I didn’t want him in 

 

the room. I didn’t feel that it was very appropriate for him to be in the 

 

room. Peter came back into the room, seemingly more calm and 

 

collected than he had been twenty minutes earlier. He pointed a left thumb 

 

towards the door.

 

“Walter. Out. Olivia already told you she doesn’t want you in here when 

 

she’s feeding the baby.”

 

Walter stood there, his arms crossed, which was very rare for him. He 

 

didn’t want to move from his spot he was standing in. I could see a battle 

 

was brewing between the two Bishop men, and it wasn’t helping me any.

 

“But son, it’s a natural process. Why won’t you let me stay and watch. It 

 

reminds me so much of when you were a baby Peter. How much you loved 

 

being close to your mother and suckling at her breasts... It was 

 

exhilarating really...”

 

Peter rolled his eyes and pushed Walter out the door but not before 

 

finishing him off.

 

“Exhilarating for who Walter? You or mom? Out Walter.”

 

Before Walter could protest one last time, Peter closed the door, not 

 

even thinking he had closed the door in his face. He turned back to both 

 

me and alter-Emily. He traced her tiny nose with his enormous looking 

 

index finger. She gave Peter what looked like an amused smile and 

 

continued to eat.

 

“Look Liv, she’s got your smile.”

 

I shook my head no. That crooked smile? Definitely yours Peter. I don’t 

 

have a crooked smile at all. He kept tracing alter-Emily’s nose with his 

 

index finger. She seemed to like it. She was slowly falling asleep in my 

 

arms, but still trying to nurse at the same time.

 

“No Peter. I think she’s got your smile. Your crooked smile when you get 

 

nervous about something.”

 

Peter gave me a look that feigned a wounded pride. He thinks I wounded 

 

his pride. Alter-Emily had Peter’s crooked smile. Our Emily had my 

 

smile. I knew that. He pretended to be hurt by what I had just told him.

 

“Me? My crooked smile? Really? No way Liv. I don’t do that smile when 

 

I’m nervous about something.”

 

I shook my head laughing a little. Yes he did! Did he really think he could 

 

hide that little fact from me? His wife? I didn’t think so.

 

“Yes you do Peter. You always have. Do you really think you can hide that 

 

little fact from me? Your wife? I didn’t think so.”

 

I knew I couldn’t get too attached to alter-Emily, because she wasn’t mine 

 

to get attached to in the first place. Peter and I would eventually have to 

 

travel to William Bell’s reality and find our alter-selves and return their 

 

baby. Though he still had a smile on his face, his eyes were filled with 

 

worry, like they always were as of late since Emily had been taken from 

 

me. From the both of us.

 

“You know Olivia; we can’t keep alter-Emily here with us. She belongs 

 

with her real mother in William Bell’s reality. We’ll eventually have to 

 

take her back to them, and hopefully we can get our Emily back.”

 

Though the baby that I held in my arms was alter-Emily, she was exactly 

 

identical in every way to my Emily. The only thing different about the 

 

two: their star-shaped birthmarks were on opposite sides of their 

 

foreheads. Besides, I knew that once I found my alter-self things would be 

 

much better for both parties involved.

 

To Be Continued...


	11. An uncertain and unknown reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own Emily and alter-Emily.

March 22nd, 2012 9:30 a.m.

 

Peter and I had made arrangements with Walter to help us find a weak spot 

 

between the two worlds. Unfortunately for us, most of the weak spots 

 

between the two worlds were at the old Little Hill airfield. The drive to 

 

Little Hill was one of silence. Peter and I sat in back with the baby. 

 

Making sure she was calm. She hadn’t noticed a thing and was happily 

 

sucking away at her pacifier. I could always buy a new one for our Emily 

 

later. We pulled to a complete stop in a wet patch of grass and snow. 

 

Astrid’s voice could be heard from the front seat.

 

“We’re here.”

 

Peter and I looked at each other anxiously. I didn’t want to give up alter-

 

Emily, but I had no choice, because she wasn’t mine to begin with. She 

 

was my counterparts. Peter opened up the door on his side of the car and 

 

shut it. Then he went over to my side and opened up the door so that I 

 

could get out with alter-Emily. He gingerly took my hand in his and made 

 

sure that I didn’t slip on the slick ice-caked grass under me. He took my 

 

chin in his hands, lifting it towards him.

 

“You ready for this ‘Livia?”

 

I nodded my head. As ready as I’ll ever be Bishop. A portal opened up in 

 

front of us. With one arm I cradled alter-Emily, and with the other I held 

 

Peter’s hand as we stepped through to the other side. Once there, I began 

 

to feel a searing pain coursing through my body, that of ten times the pain 

 

I went through giving birth to Emily. I staggered a bit, taken aback by the 

 

force of the changing of realities. Peter seemed to be taking it a bit better 

 

than me.

 

I felt dizzy and sick all at the same time. I managed to miss vomiting all 

 

over Peter and emptied the contents from my stomach all over the snow 

 

covered grass. Peter had let go of my hand so that I could vomit. I could 

 

now feel his hand up against my back, rubbing it in circular motions trying 

 

to make me feel better. My throat raw and tasting of old food, I looked 

 

into Peter’s eyes.

 

“You alright Liv? Walter said we might feel a little disoriented when we 

 

crossed over into the other reality. You sure you’re going to be okay?”

 

I nodded a bit shaky on my feet as Peter helped me up onto them. He 

 

steadied me and helped me lean up against a nearby tree trunk, taking 

 

alter-Emily into his arms so that I could regain my bearings. I wiped my 

 

mouth with the back of my hand and looked around me.

 

Everything looked the same, except for the snow that covered the ground. 

 

It must be a little colder in this reality. I smirked at my husband. And how 

 

are we going to find our alter-selves? Peter Bishop, he thought he 

 

knew everything. I watched him for a second as he slung the baby sling 

 

over his head with alter-Emily in it. That thing really came in handy. 

 

Though she was much heavier than our Emily was.

 

“I’m fine Peter. So how do you propose we find our alter-selves Peter? 

 

We’re miles from anywhere taxis come from. I hope you’re not 

 

suggesting that we walk all the way back to Boston. It’s too far, and we 

 

didn’t think to bring any diapers with us. Well, I guess we really don’t have 

 

a choice in the matter do we? So... Let’s go Bishop.”

 

Peter laughed a little shaking his head at me. We must have been walking 

 

for at least a couple of miles when Peter spotted what looked like a gas 

 

station. There were a few cars here and there, but nothing too crowded. I 

 

took a deep breath in and opened up the door to the store.

 

A man sat at the service counter with a newspaper covering his face, so I 

 

couldn’t see what he looked like. Peter cleared his throat and the 

 

newspaper came down revealing the face of... Charlie! A lump began to 

 

form in my throat as Peter asked if there was a bathroom.

 

“Excuse me; is there a bathroom that I could use?”

 

Alter-Charlie gave Peter a hearty laugh and handed him the bathroom key. 

 

Peter slung the baby sling over my body with alter-Emily in it, who was 

 

sucking on her pacifier, still fast asleep. I kept my eye on alter-Emily so 

 

that I could avoid contact with the alter-Charlie in front of me. My breath 

 

hitched in my throat as I tried to control what I was feeling.

 

“Yeah sure thing. Here’s the key. Restrooms are in the back to your 

 

second right.”

 

He was giving me the genuine smile that I always remembered the Charlie 

 

from my world giving me. I heard alter-Emily yawn loudly from the baby 

 

sling. I gently brushed a kiss against her forehead and downy-soft brown 

 

hair. Alter-Charlie smiled down at Emily and ventured into a question.

 

“Beautiful baby you got there ma’am. What’s her name?”

 

I occupied myself with trying to get Emily back to sleep again. I looked 

 

alter-Charlie in the eye. His shiny nametag pinned to his shirt read his 

 

first name and last initial. Charlie F. I might be a bit bold to ask him what 

 

his last name was, even though I already knew.

 

“Her name is Emily. I actually gave birth to her a couple of weeks ago. I 

 

noticed your nametag says that your name is Charlie. Is your last name by 

 

any chance Francis?”

 

Alter-Charlie looked at me stunned. Then a little nervous as to why I knew 

 

what his name was. He gave me a nervous little laugh. Exactly like the 

 

Charlie I knew. Exactly the same. Oh Charlie, it is you! 

 

“Lady, how did you know my name?”

 

Now it was my turn to be nervous. I gave a nervous laugh to alter-Charlie, 

 

but now tears were threatening to course down my cheeks. How could he 

 

not know it was me? But I had to remember, this Charlie didn’t know me 

 

at all. I shook my head, trying for dear life to hold my tears back.

 

“I’m sorry, you just... You just look like somebody I used to know with 

 

that name. It was just a guess. I didn’t mean to scare you. Do you by any 

 

chance have any diapers?”

 

Alter-Charlie nodded his head and pointed to an aisle a couple over from 

 

the chips.

 

“Yeah sure, aisle seven.”

 

Peter came down the aisle just as I was picking up a package of diapers. 

 

He saw the tears in my eyes and placed his hands on my shoulders. His 

 

eyes were scanning mine to figure out what was wrong.

 

“ ‘Livia, what is it? You’re crying! What happened?”

 

I had to tell Peter about alter-Charlie. It was bringing back too many 

 

memories, though when I shot the shape shifter that took his skin two 

 

years ago, I knew it wasn’t him. But not until later. Charlie had been my 

 

best friend.

 

“Peter, that man up front, at the counter. It’s Charlie. How is it that 

 

Charlie is still alive in this reality Peter? It doesn’t make any sense to 

 

me.”

 

I could feel a full-on panic attack grab a hold of me. I had to get out of the 

 

store. I could feel myself beginning to hyperventilate. I couldn’t breathe 

 

now and Peter was helping me sit down in the middle of the aisle.

 

“Here Livvy sit down. I’ll take Emily. Relax and put your head between 

 

your legs. Let the blood rush to it and take deep breaths in and out.”

 

I spread my legs apart and put my head in between them lacing my hands 

 

together and putting them up to the back of my head. I just needed to 

 

gather my bearings. Taking a deep breath in, I let out a long distorted 

 

sounding sob. Peter was now at the front of the store making conversation 

 

with alter-Charlie.

 

“Don’t take to heart about what my wife said. She’s suffering from 

 

Post-partum disorder. So, how much are the two sodas, chips and the 

 

diapers?”

 

I took another deep breath which helped clear my head of what I was 

 

feeling. I slowly got to my feet; testing the ground below me to make sure 

 

I didn’t have a dizzy spell and fall down. Once I had my footing below me, 

 

I joined Peter up front and put on a genuine smile for alter-Charlie. He 

 

rattled out the total to Peter.

 

“Total comes to $9.75. Here you go, and have a nice day you two. If 

 

you’re looking for a way back to Boston, there’s a greyhound bus that 

 

stops here in about five minutes.”

 

Peter must have told him that we needed to get back to Boston. He gave 

 

alter-Charlie two twenty dollar bills from his coat pocket. They were to 

 

pay for our tickets to take the bus back to Boston. When alter-Charlie 

 

handed me mine, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of something coming 

 

from him. Almost like he really did recognize me. But it went as soon as 

 

it came.

 

As Peter and I went outside in front of the store, he gave me a look. I 

 

knew what was coming now, and I didn’t like it one bit. He adjusted the 

 

baby sling over his shoulder and made sure that alter-Emily was warm 

 

before he had at me about alter-Charlie. I saw him lick his lips, and then 

 

came a whirlwind of remarks.

 

“What the hell was that all about back there Liv? You know that Charlie in 

 

the store isn’t the one that died back in our reality don’t you? I know he 

 

looks like the one you shot, even if it was the shifter, but he’s not your 

 

Charlie. This Charlie doesn’t have a clue to who you even are. He doesn’t 

 

even work for the FBI in this reality if you haven’t noticed.”

 

I raked both my hands through my hair nervously. I did that when I couldn’t 

 

handle things very well, and this was just one of them. Well, how the hell 

 

did I know that it would be alter-Charlie in the store! I didn’t think it 

 

would affect me that much anymore. But apparently, even after three 

 

years, my wounds from his death are still deep. I turned to Peter, my 

 

eyes puffy and red from crying so much.

 

“Well how the hell did I know that it would be alter-Charlie in the store 

 

Peter! There had better not be any more shocking surprises in this reality, 

 

because I don’t know how much more of it I can take.”

 

Peter’s expression softened and he placed a hand on my left shoulder 

 

squeezing it. I took a deep breath in and relaxed myself. The greyhound 

 

bus showed up suddenly, and I wiped the tears from my eyes hoping that 

 

no one would notice I had been crying.

 

We climbed on with our meager groceries and handed the driver our 

 

tickets. He handed the ticket stubs back to us and told us to sit anywhere 

 

we liked. We aimed for the middle of the bus. Surprisingly, the bus was 

 

almost completely empty. There were a few people on here, including 

 

Peter and I. It would be awhile before we got to Boston, so I closed my 

 

eyes and fell asleep.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“ ‘Livia we’re here. We’re in Boston. It’s time to go.”

 

I sat up straight, putting my coat back on over me. Wiping the sleep from 

 

my eyes I glanced down at my watch. It was only 12:30. It had taken us 

 

nearly three hours from the gas station to here. I slowly made my way off 

 

the bus and into the busy bus terminal with Peter. He grabbed for my hand.

 

“Stay close Livvy.”

 

There were more people in this Boston-reality than in our own. This 

 

Boston was practically busting at the seams with people. I shook my head 

 

and followed Peter out of the busy terminal. He hailed a cab.

 

“Taxi!”

 

A taxi pulled up to the curb. Peter ushered me in and sat down next to me 

 

closing the back door behind him. The driver in front turned to us.

 

“Where to sir?”

 

Peter knew exactly where we were going. We were going to find our 

 

alter-selves. Though I don’t know what either of us is like in this reality. I 

 

probably still worked for the FBI and Peter was the same here as he was in 

 

our reality. A civilian contractor.

 

“5674 Cherry Street, Boston.”

 

The cab driver nodded his head and turned back to the steering wheel. I 

 

held onto Peter as we took off through the streets of Boston. I sighed 

 

frustrated. Ugh. This man drove like a bat out of hell! Before I knew it, 

 

as if by blink of an eye, we were at our alter-selves house. Peter shoved 

 

the cab driver a 20 through the divider separating the front from the back 

 

of the cab.

 

The man took it gratefully as Peter and I got out. I found myself visibly 

 

shaking as we reached the small cyclone fence in our alternate yard. It was 

 

more kept up than ours in our reality, all things considering it was still 

 

snowing here. Peter and I carefully climbed the steps leading up to the 

 

porch. We could hear noise on the other side of the front door. Peter rang 

 

to doorbell, and was startled to hear his own voice.

 

“... I’m not going to argue about this anymore Olivia. Somebody’s at the 

 

door.”

 

Peter looked at me a little surprised and yet he couldn’t help but laugh and 

 

smirk a little. Yeah, that sounded like the Peter Bishop I knew. The front 

 

door lock clicked open and the door opened to reveal a clean-shaven 

 

alter-Peter Bishop. He was very well dressed.

 

In a long sleeved baby blue polo shirt and a dark green vest over it. And he 

 

was wearing loafers. I held back a smile and laugh. His face paled when he 

 

saw the both of us, and about froze in mid-sentence.

 

“Can I help... You?”

 

I smiled at alter-Peter and tried to look beyond him. What was the 

 

alter-me like? I could hear shuffling behind the door. Alter-Emily began 

 

to make noise in the baby sling over Peter’s shoulder.

 

“There’s someone here that would like to see you. Olivia and I will tell 

 

you the whole story. If you’ll have us in?”

 

Alter-Peter nodded his head and opened up the door far enough for us to 

 

come in. Coming into our alter-selves house, the floor plan was exactly 

 

the same, except for where the stairs were. In our reality, the stairs were 

 

by the front door. In this reality, they were around a corner and weren’t 

 

straight.

 

Alter-me came from the kitchen and could only stare at the both of us. It 

 

was like looking in a mirror and seeing myself. There were only slight 

 

differences between the two of us. Alter-Olivia had a scar by her left 

 

eyebrow instead of her right like mine was. Peter took alter-Emily out of 

 

the baby sling and placed her into alter-Peter’s arms. His smile was just as 

 

contagious as my Peter’s was. The both of us listened to the way he spoke 

 

to his daughter.

 

“Daddy is so glad you came back baby girl. Let’s check your heart rate 

 

little one.”

 

Alter-me looked surprised, as well as a little suspicious of the both of us. 

 

Well, I wasn’t surprised, that was actually the way I really was. No 

 

difference there it seems. She hit right on the nail where we had come 

 

from.

 

“You two are from another reality aren’t you? I knew there were other 

 

realities, seeing as I do work in Fringe-division and see a lot of weird 

 

things. But that begs the question: Where did you two find Emily? She’s 

 

been missing for almost three days in this world.”

Wow. Alter-me had a lot of questions. Yeah, I was the same way, always 

 

asking questions, but never getting a straight answer sometimes. She 

 

looked at me with some degree of suspicion I could not identify. That’s 

 

definitely not me. 

 

“We think that shape shifters from your world somehow brought her into 

 

ours switching the two babies. Like we wouldn’t notice. Your daughter has 

 

the exact same star-shaped birthmark as my own daughter. But the other 

 

difference between the two is that they are on different sides of their 

 

foreheads. Your Emily has it on the left side, and mine has it on the right.”

 

Peter and I quickly looked over at the alter version of himself and watched 

 

as he listened to his daughters heartbeat with a stethoscope. Peter could 

 

not contain his curiosity anymore. He had to know what his alternate self 

 

was like.

 

“You’re a doctor? Really? Hmm. Would’ve never pegged myself as a 

 

doctor but alright. In our world, I work for the FBI as a civilian consultant. 

 

This is a big leap for me. So you spent eight years in medical school. 

 

While I spent the last eight helping the FBI and getting married and 

 

starting a family of my own.”

 

Alter-Peter smiled and laughed that cute laugh that I always loved about 

 

him. Alter-me seemed a little suspicious still, but not like before. Now it 

 

was my turn to ask my alter-self what I was like.

 

“Did you give birth to Emily at Boston General?”

What was I thinking! Why did I ask that question first? I guess I was 

 

just naturally curious to find any differences between the two of us. If it 

 

weren’t for the scar on the left side of her forehead, you would probably 

 

think we were twins. She frowned at me, and took a long deep breath, 

 

letting it out slowly. I had a feeling this story would be long.

 

“No. Peter and I were trying to locate a suspect for a terrorist 

 

organization, maybe you’ve heard of it in your world: ZFT. We tracked 

 

one of the suspects into an undisclosed warehouse location in Watertown. 

 

I went in guns blazing; the man nearly hit me square in my side with his 

 

stray bullet. Before we could catch him, I went into labor. By then, the 

 

building was surrounded by several men of the suspected group.

 

They had locked all doors and blocked all exits out of the warehouse. We 

 

could do nothing but wait for a field assist team. Peter was very 

 

apprehensive about delivering a baby in an abandoned warehouse, and by 

 

all accounts was not the cleanest in the world either. But we really didn’t 

 

have a choice. Paramedics couldn’t even get to me. It was the longest and 

 

most excruciating eighteen hours I ever experienced in my life. When 

 

Emily came out of me, I nearly bled to death. Peter managed to get the 

 

bleeding under control. Though everything didn’t go smoothly, I still got 

 

my little girl Emily.”

 

I swallowed, alter-me had more of a hard time giving birth than I had. 

 

Now, thinking about it, being in a hospital and giving birth to Emily in a 

 

controlled environment surrounded by qualified doctors and nurses, I 

 

didn’t feel so unlucky. Or maybe that isn’t quite the right word here. Well, 

 

after all, she was me, and I was her. Alter-Peter gently placed their 

 

daughter Emily into alter-me’s arms. I could hear a slightly choked sob 

 

come from her. Her words almost stung me, but only because there was 

 

still a piece missing from my heart, and that was my Emily.

 

“Mommy is so glad your back, safely and healthy. You have your daddy to 

 

thank for that little lady.”

 

I watched alter-me place kisses all over alter-Emily’s forehead. I’d be 

 

doing that if I had my Emily back. I’m hoping these two could help us get 

 

to her, and quickly. Alter-me could see the tears in my eyes just by me 

 

watching Emily. I had to get my little girl back, and alter-Peter and 

 

alter-me would help us get her back. Alter-Peter looked at me with eyes I 

 

found comforting and reassuring because they were the same as my own 

 

husbands eyes.

 

“Don’t worry, my wife and I will help you get your daughter back. Besides, 

 

if anything’s happened to her, which I hope nothing has, I can help her. I’m 

 

a licensed Pediatrician.”

 

My face paled. The side effects from crossing over to this reality were 

 

still showing themselves, even if ever so slowly. I felt very dizzy. 

 

Alter-Peter was concerned and by now, I was sure he noticed my silver 

 

medical bracelet on my left wrist. He squinted his eyes and read it out 

 

loud.

 

“Olivia Dunham. Suffers from seizures of unknown origin. If found, 

 

please call 555-236-0987. Contact Peter Bishop.”

 

Suddenly, I felt very embarrassed about being examined by Peter’s 

 

alter-self. I guess it was because he looked exactly the same as my 

 

husband. Peter gave me a comforting smile and a look that said: ‘It’s okay 

 

Liv’ I guess it was just a little awkward was all. I did my best to resist all 

 

my urges of pleasure running up and down my back as he touched me. No. 

 

This isn’t your Peter. This is alter-Peter. Get with the program 

 

Dunham! I turned to alter-Peter and smiled a nervous weak smile at him.

 

“I’m sorry, this must be very awkward for not only you, but for myself as 

 

well. Actually it is very awkward for me, but you’re the only doctor here 

 

so...”

 

Alter-Peter managed a sincere smile and continued his examination of 

 

me. His smile quickly disappeared as he searched for any bumps on my 

 

head. He stopped short of one large one on the right side of my forehead. 

 

I winced as he pressed against it. Had I hit my head when Peter and I 

 

switched realities? 

 

“How’d you get this? Did you by any chance happen to fall when you and 

 

my ‘counterpart’ came from your world?”

 

I shook my head, I had no clue. It could’ve been from anything really. I 

 

could feel the warmth through the latex gloves he was wearing. Next he 

 

pulled a penlight from the breast pocket of his vest. He shined it in my 

 

eyes. I would hope by now my concussion would’ve gone away. I found 

 

that I could follow his finger with both my eyes.

 

“No I don’t think so Peter. Or should I call you Doctor Bishop?”

 

He turned the blinding penlight off and placed it back into the breast 

 

pocket of his vest. He gestured for me to lie down on the couch. I got a 

 

little uncomfortable with the thought. Alter-me had left the room so that 

 

she could nurse Emily out of sight of the rest of us. That is something 

 

different from me. But maybe Walter doesn’t live in this house like he 

 

does in our reality. I lie down on the couch anyways and saw the look of 

 

worry in my Peter’s eyes. He decided to raise some questions with his 

 

alter-self.

 

“What are you going to do to her exactly?”

 

Alter-Peter gave my Peter a determined but well intentioned look and 

 

then turned back to me. But not before telling him what he was doing.

 

“Nothing to it Bishop. Just checking for broken ribs, and internal 

 

bleeding. You were thinking something totally different weren’t you? 

 

Well, I don’t treat women like that. You should know that about yourself.”

 

My ribs were fine I knew that. I don’t think I had any internal bleeding, but 

 

one never knew when crossing the threshold of another reality and lived 

 

through it. The repercussions later would be very large. I winced when he 

 

pressed down on my abdomen.

 

“That hurts. Be careful Peter.”

 

Alter-Peter looked at me apologetically. He had no idea about the 

 

stitching inside my uterus. But maybe his own wife had the same. Except 

 

for the thing about my alter-self giving birth in a warehouse, everything 

 

else had to be identical to what I went through.

 

“I’m sorry Olivia. Does it hurt over here? How about here?”

 

I hurt all over. It wasn’t a matter of different spots; it was the whole area 

 

that was sensitive. I wondered if he thought that I’d had Emily by 

 

c-section. Peter stepped in for me.

 

“She’s sore because last week she had a pipe bomb taken from her and 

 

they stitched her up. Her uterus was a mess.”

 

Alter-Peter lifted up my shirt to check for fresh scaring. He was seeing 

 

something that I couldn’t. The only reason I couldn’t see what he was 

 

seeing was because of the round bowling ball called my stomach. I was 

 

stopped short of asking him what he saw when I felt myself choking, or 

 

rather, I couldn’t breathe. What the hell is going on? I could feel my eyes 

 

crossing, and then they closed. I could feel liquid rising in my throat, but 

 

it wasn’t food or bile from my stomach. It was something else. My hands 

 

went to my throat in a gesture to try and tell alter-Peter what was 

 

happening to me. I could feel one of his fists rubbing furiously in the 

 

hollow between my breasts to try to get me to respond to pain. I’d love to 

 

respond to it, but I can’t breathe.

 

“She can’t breathe. Why do her lungs sound flooded?”

 

I opened up my eyes to see Peter’s blurry form still sitting in the chair 

 

across from alter-Peter and I. My vision was clear suddenly, and he had a 

 

theory on his mind.

 

“I think I have a theory about what’s happening to Olivia. Where’s your 

 

wife? She did say she was going to take a hot bath didn’t she?”

 

Alter-Peter nodded his head and my Peter took off towards the bathroom. 

 

Water was trailing into the living room. I heard a door open up down the 

 

hallway and then Peter’s voice.

 

“Oh god, Olivia!”

 

Alter-Peter was removing my hands from my throat and now had a scalpel 

 

in his hand. My body tensed at the sight of it. My Peter quickly entered 

 

the living room and set alter-me on the ground. Seeing clearly now, I 

 

could see the expression on Peter’s face was that of pure fear.

 

“Hey Bishop! What the hell do you think you’re doing! Don’t even think 

 

of traching her. Don’t even. Look at her, watch her for a minute. See that? 

 

She’s got water in her lungs! Now get a garbage can so she can spit all of 

 

it out! Go!”

Water! What the hell was water doing flooding my lungs for? I could 

 

feel the wet liquid spilling over the sides of my mouth and down my 

 

cheeks. Alter-Peter turned me over on my side so that I could empty the 

 

water from my lungs. It came out in mouthfuls. All the while, I choked 

 

getting it out of me. I retched into the garbage can over and over again to 

 

get it out.

 

By now, my throat was burning, but there was still more water coming. I’m 

 

drowning in this! I shifted my eyes in between bouts of spitting up water 

 

from my water-logged lungs at Peter and alter-me. She didn’t look good. 

 

Getting her to breathe again wasn’t easy. Suddenly, she began to cough and 

 

another garbage can went in front of her and Peter helped her lean over it 

 

so that she could get all the water out. Finally, the water stopped coming.

 

I took in a big lungful of air and about choked on it. Tears were streaming 

 

down my face I was so scared. Alter-Peter tried to offer me a glass of 

 

water, but that was the last thing I wanted to see right now.

 

I got scared once more as one last bout of water expelled itself from my 

 

lungs. Peter was glancing at alter-me and then turned his gaze to me again. 

What the hell is going on here! That was the only question on my mind at 

 

the moment. Breathless, but at least able to get air into my lungs, I voiced 

 

my question.

 

“What... The hell... Is going... On here!”

 

The fear in Peter’s eyes was very real. He helped alter-me into a sitting 

 

position. We both had the same expressions on our faces. She looked to 

 

me and spoke up.

 

“I’m sorry I did this to you Olivia. I must have fallen asleep in the bathtub 

 

again. I’ve been so tired lately; I’ve been falling asleep in the strangest of 

 

places. All I wanted was a hot bath for twenty minutes, and all I ended up 

 

doing was falling asleep and nearly drowning myself! Peter was lucky to 

 

save me from doing that the last time. A couple of days ago. This is the 

 

weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. What I felt, so did you. We’re connected, 

 

like twins.”

 

I sat up, my hair deshelved and my clothes all wrinkled. I didn’t care about 

 

that right now. All I cared about was that I was alive. And that my 

 

counterpart was too. I wanted to find Emily. I managed to get myself to 

 

my feet. Alter-Peter stood up and placed his hands on my shoulders.

 

“I know you’re anxious about finding your daughter alive. But right now, 

 

both you and my wife need to rest. When the two of you are rested up, 

 

we’ll go out and search for her. You have my word as a physician and just 

 

plain old Peter Bishop. My wife will make the call when the two of you 

 

are rested up to start the search for her.”

 

To Be Continued...


	12. Double Strike

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own Emily and alter-Emily.

March 23rd, 2012 4 a.m.

 

It was very early in the morning, but I had insisted to my counterpart that 

 

we get going early so that we could catch these shifters by surprise, not 

 

even giving them the chance for the element of falling back. We had to 

 

attack them from all sides. Managing to pull on a bullet-proof vest over my 

 

body was much harder than it looked. Both me and alter-Olivia had a hard 

 

time, but with both Peter’s here to help us, it wasn’t as much a chore as it 

 

might have been, had we done it ourselves. I knew Peter wasn’t going to 

 

let me go at this alone. Alter-me had managed to get a hold of alter-

 

Broyles. They were sending field-assist to the same undisclosed warehouse 

 

alter-me had given birth in and was taken to when she was kidnapped. 

 

Peter’s eyes were full of worry as he cupped my face with his hands.

 

“You sure you want to do this alone ‘Livia?”

I sure as hell didn’t want to do this alone. I wanted my husband by my 

 

side to help me through this if it became fairly difficult. I would not lose 

 

another child, I just wouldn’t. The last three were heartbreaking enough. 

 

For only being 4 in the morning there sure were a lot of people out on the 

 

streets. Alter-Olivia and I passed by a group of men who started doing 

 

cat-calls to us.

 

“Ay que rico! Mami tan caliente! Tu cuerpo es mio. Vénganse mamita!”

 

(How rich! Sweetheart you’re hot! Your body is mine. Come with me 

 

sweetheart!)

 

One grabbed for my hand, but I found my way out of his grip. I wasn’t 

 

going to let him drag me down. Peter stepped in between the group of men 

 

and me. I nearly spit in the man’s face.

 

“No me toques señor! Basta ya! Puros ignorantes! Ya! No me toques señor! 

 

Basta ya!”

 

(Don’t touch me sir! Let go of me! Pure ignorants! That’s it! Don’t touch me 

 

sir! Let go of me!)

 

Peter somehow came to my rescue. I huffed and kept walking. He gave me 

 

a surprised look, but then only smirked at me. Hey, I didn’t only know just 

 

German and Mandarin. I passed by the men, who seemed shocked that I 

 

had completely understood them.

 

“Wow, nicely handled Dunham. Spoken like a true poet really.”

 

I swallowed, I wasn’t really being brave, and I just did what I had to. To 

 

get those sleaze balls off my back. I took a deep breath and looked to 

 

Peter once more.

 

“Not really Bishop. I just said that to get those sleaze balls off my back. 

 

They are so degrading to women all over the world. They are the ones who 

 

set bad examples for the men in this crazy-ass world we live in Peter. And 

 

if I have to hear another ay mamita, I’m going to start smacking some 

 

heads together. That drives me nuts.”

 

Peter backed away from me a little. I was irritated and annoyed with the 

 

men who had been hitting on me in front of my husband. I didn’t think 

 

storming this warehouse wasn’t going to be all too difficult. Alter-me had 

 

told alter-Broyles that it was their Emily that had been kidnapped. Either I 

 

would have to hide from plain sight while the raid went down, or I could 

 

just pretend to be my alter-self.

 

Though they might think there was something slightly different about me. 

 

We came from the back of the building. Several FBI agents were coming 

 

around the front of the building. I wasn’t about to be seen by alter-Broyles 

 

and questioned about why I was even there. True, this situation involved 

 

something that I was way too close to personally. I couldn’t help it; this 

 

was my baby that was in danger. I had to protect her at all costs. We 

 

entered the warehouse and there inside, came my baby’s cry. It was not 

 

her normal cry. Something must have happened to her. Oh, whoever did 

 

this to her, they were going to get it. Big time. Me being reckless, I went 

 

ahead of my alter-self and the rest of the group, hoping to find Emily 

 

somewhere in this godforsaken warehouse if it was the last thing I did, 

 

with every fiber in my being. When I heard a noise slightly off to the side 

 

of the warehouse, I cried out.

 

“FREEZE! FBI!”

 

The suspect in-tow didn’t appear to have Emily. I ducked and hid behind a 

 

bunch of dusty boxes. I tried to stifle a sneeze that was threatening to 

 

blow my cover. Movement caught my attention over by some large metal 

 

racks. I ducked once more when I heard a gun go off and then it was eerily 

 

silent throughout the whole warehouse. I cautiously got up from my hiding 

 

spot and yelled some more. Though I think that was a mistake.

 

“FBI! Come out with your hands up! Or I will shoot!”

 

I could hear my baby girl whimpering somewhere in the warehouse. I 

 

stopped cold in my tracks when I saw a pool of blood coming from around 

 

the corner. I held my breath. Let it be someone else. Please let it be 

 

someone else! I’m coming baby girl! Mommy’s coming! The body of a dark 

 

haired woman lie in the pool of what seemed to be her own blood. I wasn’t 

 

going to lower my gun for even a moment.

 

There was still plenty of danger in this warehouse. I just couldn’t shake the 

 

feeling that there was something very wrong about this whole scenario. 

 

The crying of a baby put me on alert. I kept walking, following the sound of 

 

the cries until I came to an open wooden crate with... Emily! I wanted so 

 

badly to cover my mouth with one hand and let all the tears fall, but there 

 

were still suspects in here that hadn’t been caught yet.

 

I put my gun away and reached into the crate picking up Emily. There was 

 

something different about her. Something wrong. Her cries were what 

 

worried me the most. They weren’t as strong sounding as before and now 

 

they were almost completely silent. This was a big mistake on my part. A 

 

shot rang out from behind me, barely giving me time to shield Emily from 

 

the bullet that hit me in my side, which was not protected by the 

 

bullet-proof vest covering the upper part of my body. I was thrown 

 

violently to the ground; Peter had managed to grab the baby just as I had 

 

fallen to the ground. I couldn’t breathe. It was too hard to. I think I have a 

 

collapsed lung. I tried to take a breath in, but it hurt to, and I found that I 

 

could hear gurgling coming from my throat. Blood. 

 

FBI agents were all over the warehouse suddenly, one shined their 

 

flashlight with one hand and a gun in the other, which was pointed at 

 

Peter. He and I both squinted at the flashlight and were relieved when it 

 

was lowered to the floor. The agent approached me cautiously and 

 

carefully. He leaned down next to me and picked up his radio.

 

“Sir, we’ve got a man down. Send EMS in now! Agent Dunham’s got a 

 

gunshot wound, possibly a collapsed lung.”

 

I couldn’t think straight anymore. Everything was getting blurry, and I 

 

could barely see Peter at the corner of my eye. I could see his silhouette, 

 

but that was about it. He was rocking Emily back and forth. After awhile, 

 

everyone all blended together into one. A pair of paramedics showed up at 

 

my side, one was inspecting the gaping hole in my left side. I didn’t even 

 

realize I was hissing in pain until the other paramedic put pressure on the 

 

wound. My voice, surprisingly was clear and focused.

 

“Ouch! Watch it would you! How bad is it?”

 

I was fading in and out now, so I heard only bits and pieces of what they 

 

were telling me. Some things were spoken to over radios. I must be in the 

 

back of the ambulance by now, because I can feel the sway of it going 

 

back and forth. The last I heard before I blacked out was Peter’s voice.

 

“Is she going to be alright?”

 

A paramedic somewhere off to the right of me gave a grim answer, one I 

 

wasn’t sure I wanted to accept, but Peter knew that I’d pull through.

 

“There’s no way to tell Mr. Bishop, your wife has lost a lot of blood. We’ll 

 

have to wait and see what the doctors say can be done about this.”  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The bright light in the room bothered my eyes as I opened them. Peter sat 

 

next to the bed, my hand in his big one. I closed my eyes remembering 

 

what happened to me. The warehouse, the gunshot wound... I tore at my 

 

thin hospital gown, causing a slight hiss of pain to issue forth from my lips. 

 

I felt Peter’s hands on my shoulders, steadying me.

 

“Easy Liv. Take it easy now. Relax. Everything’s going to be alright now. 

 

It’s over.”

 

I didn’t believe a word Peter said. My wound had been bad, and I wanted 

 

Peter to tell just how bad it really was. I had managed to get my hospital 

 

gown off my shoulders, only to reveal that more than half my chest was 

 

covered in thick white bandages. It was hard to breathe again. I shouldn’t 

 

be fighting against the machine giving me oxygen. I managed to ask Peter 

 

my question, though my voice was raspy.

 

“How bad was it?”

 

Peter had to lean in real close to my mouth with his ear to hear what I was 

 

even saying. How was I supposed to feed Emily now? He pulled me into my 

 

arms. He didn’t want me to worry about it, but I was. I wanted to know 

 

how bad it was. He gently pulled away from me and looked into my eyes.

 

“It was touch and go there for awhile when you were in surgery. The 

 

doctors wouldn’t let me in while you were under. So instead, I had to 

 

settle for watching over you from an observation window just outside the 

 

operating room. I won’t lie. It wasn’t pretty from my point of view. The 

 

bullet was lodged in your lung. It caused it to completely collapse. They 

 

managed to re-inflate it, but my point here being is, that’s why I’m trying 

 

to keep you calm. The slightest thing can cause it to collapse again. I 

 

need you to take it easy. It needs the chance to become strong again. 

 

They say you can go home in three weeks. But that means staying here in 

 

their world.”

 

I shook my head no. We couldn’t stay here. Not in this world. We didn’t 

 

belong here. My mind went back to Emily who I wished I could see and just 

 

hold in my arms right now. Peter knew I was thinking of Emily.

 

“The only thing bad about you being all covered up like that is, you won’t 

 

be able to feed Emily. Your alter-self has already volunteered herself to 

 

feed Emily. Besides, what harm is there in that? It’ll be like feeding twins. 

 

You two are identical in every sense, Emily won’t know the difference.”

 

Peter helped straighten me out once more as my alter-self came into the 

 

room holding both my daughter and hers. She’d have her hands full for 

 

awhile. Just until I got better anyways. Both of them were crying, but it 

 

was only apparent whose voice I was hearing. Alter-Emily’s. I looked at my 

 

daughter with tears in my eyes, she was crying, but no sound came forth. 

She’s lost her voice. My alter-self sat down in the rocking chair on the 

 

other side of the room, but attempted to scoot it closer to me.

 

“You know, I’m going to have to put post-its on these two to tell the 

 

difference pretty soon. At least while I’m feeding them. (Looks down at my 

 

Emily) Ow! Olivia you didn’t tell me your daughter was such a barracuda 

 

when it came to eating! This girl is a monster when she’s hungry!”

 

I laughed a little and looked to Peter. Well, she gets that from her father. 

 

A coughing fit seemed to knock me down. Peter quickly grabbed for the 

 

water pitcher by the bed and poured me a glass of water. I took the glass 

 

gratefully and gulped the water down in two seconds flat. I managed to 

 

catch my breath.

 

“Thank-you Peter.”

 

He nodded his head and rubbed my back comfortingly. Alter-me made faces 

 

as my Emily kept eating. Well, now she’s knows how I feel! Soon, my Emily 

 

was fast asleep. Alter-Emily kept eating. My alter-self looked a little more 

 

relieved that my Emily had fallen asleep. Peter took Emily from alter-Olivia’s 

 

arms and placed her in my own. I watched her sleep. It felt so good to 

 

hold her in my arms again. It felt just like the day I had given birth to her, 

 

and I was holding her for the first time. I gently placed kisses on her tiny 

 

forehead. She didn’t seem to notice a thing. Peter and I were just glad to 

 

have Emily back. Peter turned to alter-Olivia who was still feeding her own 

 

daughter. He smiled at her.

 

“You know, my daughter gets that barracuda thing from me. According to 

 

Walter, as a baby I did the same thing... Then again, some baby’s just do 

 

that... Thank-you for helping Olivia and I out Liv. We appreciate it. Though 

 

I don’t always know if she does...”

 

I glared at Peter. He was going to get a smack to the back of the head 

 

one of these days. I swear. But at least we both had Emily back, and that 

 

was truly one life’s little miracles.

 

To Be Continued...


	13. Finally going Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not own any of the Fringe characters. But I do own Emily and alter-Emily.

April 13th, 2012 9 a.m.

It was nice to finally be going home again. It was also nice to finally 

have those bothersome bandages off my chest. I was sad to be 

leaving our alter-selves house, only because they had turned out to 

be almost the same as both Peter and I were. They were warm and 

friendly, and it was refreshing all while in a world full of danger all 

around us. Peter slung the baby carrier over his shoulder with Emily 

in it, trying to get her to sleep. 

I turned to alter-me and smiled. She did the same and it looked like 

we were in a mirror.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this to myself, but I’m going to miss you. 

You have been the greatest help to me. Feeding Emily when I 

couldn’t, really helped her gained her weight and her strength back.”

It was very awkward and weird hugging myself, but it was as if I 

was hugging my own twin sister. Even though I didn’t have one. My 

alter-self and I stopped hugging and looked over at both Peter’s and 

laughed at them. They were shaking hands. What happened to hugs? 

Oh right, men didn’t give hugs... It’s not manly enough... They 

have to be real macho about it too... The two of them turned to us.

“What?”

The both of us placed our hands on our hips and smirked at the two 

men we called our husbands. We looked at each other and started 

cracking up again. It was as if there were some unspoken joke 

between the two of us. 

The both of us spoke at the same time.

“No hugs? What a way to show your trying to be macho. Give it up 

will you?”

We both were giving them the eyebrow now. They only shook their 

heads and turned away from each other. Peter and I would either 

have to find our way back to Little Hill airfield or go to Reiden Lake. 

That was where the other weak spots were between the two worlds. 

As we were going towards the front door, my alter-self pressed 

something into my palm. I smiled when I saw what it was. A picture 

of the both of us. Our smiles matching each other. 

“For you to remember me by. I was coming to think of you as my 

twin sister. It was really nice having someone to talk to about what 

I’m going through. I can’t always talk about them with Peter, even 

though that’s what a marriage is based on, talking out your problems. It hasn’t been all 

 

that easy for me since Rachel and Ella moved to Maine. Don’t worry, that’s 

 

your copy. I have mine. Don’t forget me.”

How could I forget myself? I could never forget myself, not for one 

 

minute. I pulled my alter-self into a hug. I would miss my alter-self. Sounds 

 

vaguely strange, but this was the alternate world I was still in. Peter and I 

 

ready to go, were about to go out the front door through the screen door 

 

when alter-Peter spoke.

 

“You know, we could take you to where ever you need to get to. To get 

 

back home at least. It would give the two “sisters” here time to say 

 

goodbye.”

 

Both Peter’s laughed at the both of us. It was strange how me and my 

 

alter-self had become almost inseparable over the last month alone. As we 

 

got into the car, I noticed there wasn’t much room for people. How were 

 

we going to fit my Emily and my alter-self’s one in at the same time? It 

 

would prove difficult. But somehow the both of us managed to get the two 

 

into the car. She’d had a spare car seat. Probably one for their other car 

 

they had. With the both of us sitting behind the driver’s seat and behind 

 

the passenger on the other side of the car, we were finally on our way. 

 

Both Emily’s were fast asleep, sucking on their pacifiers. The both of us 

 

smiled at them, and then at each other. Alter-Olivia’s eyes sparkled like 

 

mine when she was happy. I was the first to speak.

 

“You know the first thing Peter said when we found out that we were 

 

pregnant? He said that we were having a boy. And I told him, what if it 

 

was a boy and a girl? Then we’d both be happy. He’d get his son, and I’d 

 

get a daughter. Walter was so ecstatic about it.”

 

Alter-me looked very sad as I said this. Then she turned her attention to 

her Emily in the car seat next to her and smiled sadly.

 

“Hmm. That’s one thing that’s different in this world Olivia. Walter won’t 

 

get to see her grow up. You see, in this world, he’s still locked up at Saint 

 

Claire’s. How did you ever manage your Peter to get him out in your world 

 

anyways?”

 

I smiled at my counterpart and then smirked. It was a long story. One of 

 

practically begging. John’s face flitted across my mind; he was someone I 

 

wanted to forget. Though occasionally I missed him, I had to remember 

 

that he’d betrayed me. Thinking of it now made me want to just take a 

 

shower from the inside out again...

 

“I had to get Walter out of Saint Claire’s Olivia. It was the only way to 

 

save John at the time. I’d risked everything for him, thinking that he’d 

 

loved me. But it was all for nothing, and thinking about it now just makes 

 

me want to take another shower from the inside out. He’s the one that 

 

betrayed me. After John died, I asked Walter and Peter to stay. And 

 

they’ve stayed ever since. It’s really a blessing to have them around. 

 

Though Peter and I have our differences about why or why not Walter 

 

should get to hold his own granddaughter is beyond me. I see nothing 

 

wrong with it. But Peter seems to think there is.”

 

Alter-me shook her head and made sure her daughter was still asleep. She 

 

then looked back at me seriously. This was something totally different from 

 

the way I looked at people. For starters, it wasn’t even something I did. 

 

Must be the differences on this side.

 

“I had actually busted Walter out of Saint Claire’s too in this world. 

 

Believing that he really could save John. But after John died, Peter sent 

 

him back to Saint Claire’s. We’ve sent letters to him over the last four 

 

years, letting him know that our family was growing. Peter sent him 

 

pictures from our wedding. We’ve sent him various pictures at different 

 

stages of my pregnancy, and recently we sent him Emily’s first picture. I 

 

know you have the same picture in your world too. The one where your 

 

holding Emily while you were still in the hospital. We’ve gotten very few 

 

letters back, but only because of the strict rule at the hospital regarding 

 

personal letters. But when we do, he sends his warmest wishes to Emily. 

 

He says he’s hung all his pictures on the wall in his room. He hopes that 

 

someday he’ll be able to meet Emily in person. Peter says that won’t 

 

happen.”

 

I squeezed her hand in a comforting gesture. Emily would miss out on 

 

having a grandfather in this world, but she wouldn’t miss out in our world. I 

 

would let Walter get involved. I just had to let go of my inner irrational 

 

fears. We finally pulled up to the spot at Little Hill where Peter and I had 

 

come through the weak spot between worlds. I swallowed, but I knew it 

 

was time to go now. Gathering Emily into my arms and getting out of the 

 

car, I smiled weakly at myself. Peter placed Emily in the baby carrier and 

 

grabbed a hold of my hand. He tried to pull me away. But I stopped him for 

 

moment.

 

“For what it’s worth Olivia, at least Emily will have known about her 

 

grandfather rather than wonder in secret every night where he is. She’s 

 

turning into such a wonderful child already. Take good care of her.”

 

Alter-me nodded her head at me and once again folded me into a hug. I 

 

didn’t know I hugged so tightly before. Another difference in this world 

 

though. I wasn’t very accustomed to hugging, unless it was my own family. 

 

When she let go, she walked over to Peter and Emily, leaning down and 

 

giving her a kiss on the forehead.

 

“Bye-bye sweet baby girl. You be good for your mama now.”

 

Emily moved her head a little and gave my counterpart somewhat of a 

 

smile. Maybe it wasn’t just alter-Emily that gave that crooked smile. They 

 

both had Peter’s smile. I waved bye to both of them and stepped through 

 

the portal to the other side. Surprisingly, when we got there, I wasn’t 

 

feeling sick. Though I shouldn’t jinx it just yet. It might just be a delayed 

 

reaction. To both Peter and me’s surprise, Walter and Astrid pulled up at 

 

that exact moment. Walter’s face had a smile plastered to it. He nearly 

 

skipped out of the car when he saw us.

 

“Son! Agent Dunham! Glad to have you back! And you’ve managed to bring 

 

back my granddaughter fully intact. I say this calls for a celebration. How 

 

about we go home and Agent Farnsworth will cook us all up a batch of 

 

blueberry pancakes and strawberry waffles? My that sounds heavenly now 

 

that I’m thinking about it. Let’s go you two!”

 

Peter and I shook our heads laughing as Walter turned his back to us. 

Typical Walter. Always hungry, no matter what time of day it is. As the 

 

both of us climbed into the back of the car, I pulled out the picture of me 

 

and my alter-self. I smiled sadly at it. It had managed not to get damaged 

 

when we changed realities. That is one thing I would miss about the other 

 

world, my alter-self. Peter took my hand comfortingly; we’d made it back in 

 

one piece, despite what I had gone through over there...  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

February 2nd, 2014

 

I can’t believe that Emily is almost two years old. A month from today is 

 

her birthday. We’ve just put her to bed and Walter is in his room down the 

 

hall doing who knows what with his experiments again. All I know is this, 

 

Peter and I finally have some time for us. Emily really needed someone else 

 

to play with. So Peter and I are trying to have another baby. I wanted it 

 

more than anything. Emily was a blessing and I was ready for another. 

 

Peter was such a gentleman. He carried me to the bed and set me down 

 

on it. I didn’t waste time pulling him down on the bed all while tearing my 

 

clothes off at the same time. In between him kissing me I heard him speak.

 

“Are you sure you want this now Liv?”

 

I nodded my head yes. More than anything. Emily slept like a rock, so no 

 

worries there. Peter put a hand up for a moment and went to go shut the 

 

door and lock it, so that no one could walk in unannounced, especially in 

 

Walter’s case. He’d already walked in on us twice while having sex. It was 

 

the most embarrassing thing. When Peter came back to me, he jumped 

 

onto the bed like a child. I had to stifle a laugh, but that didn’t work. I was 

 

so loud! I let out one long and low moan. This had to be the best night 

 

ever.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

March 2nd, 2014

 

I bit my lip as I walked into the house. Peter’s gift in hand I walked into the 

 

living room to see Emily on top of Walter’s back, and he was giving her a 

 

horsey back ride. She giggled and clapped her hands. When he stopped 

 

going around the coffee table for a second, she started to whine. Terrible 

 

two’s here we come. 

 

“More horsey ride grampa water! More horsey ride!”

 

I shook my head and looked at the two. Walter was so happy. Being with 

 

Emily has probably made him feel years younger again. Walter shook his 

 

head no while I took her into my arms trying to calm her.

 

“Maybe grampa is tired sweetheart. And right now it’s time for Emily’s 

 

bath.”

 

Emily managed to squirm out of my arms and to the floor. Her little legs 

 

were faster than I thought. I quickly chased after her and into the kitchen 

 

where Peter was sitting at the kitchen table. He was enjoying a Philly 

 

cheese steak sandwich on marbled rye bread. Emily climbed into Peter’s 

 

lap, trying to stay away from me.

 

“Daddy, Emmy don’t want baf. Mama make Emmy take baf.”

 

Peter smiled and put his half-eaten sandwich back onto his plate, wiping 

 

his hands and face on a napkin. He looked her in the eye. She giggled and 

 

started to poke at his nose. He laughed and got down to her level.

 

“Hey guess what birthday girl, mommy’s right. You have to take a bath. 

 

You want to be clean don’t you?”

 

Emily shook her head, but still smiled. I took this golden opportunity to give 

 

Peter his present. He smirked at me. I wonder what he thought it was. I 

 

put the thought out of my mind. He took it from my hands and shook it. I 

 

leaned in and whispered into his ear, the secret I’ve been hiding all day.

 

“This is for you Peter. I’m pregnant. Congratulations dad.”

 

Peter looked at me seriously at first, which didn’t make me feel all too 

 

comfortable. Then suddenly, a big smile spread across his face, and then 

 

he looked down at Emily, who seemed oblivious to what was going on.

 

“Guess what baby girl, your going to be a big sister. Mommy’s having a 

 

baby.”

 

Emily scrunched her face up. She was too young to understand the 

 

concept yet. But just when Peter and I thought she couldn’t understand, 

 

she went over to her toy box in the corner of the kitchen and pulled out 

 

her baby doll. She came back to the table with it and looked at me.

 

“Mama and baby?”

 

She pointed to her doll, but she did understand. She climbed out of Peter’s 

 

lap came over to me. I got down to her level and smiled. I scooped her up 

 

into my arms.

 

“Yes baby, mommy has a baby inside her.”

 

Peter and I both smiled at each other. Walter came into the kitchen looking 

 

tired, but still cheerful. He caught on and joined us.

 

“Well you two are awful chipper. Something I should know about? Agent 

 

Dunham?”

 

I turned away from Walter and laughed a little bit. I didn’t want to tell him. 

 

Peter could. I’d let him do the honors for me. He smile grew bigger as he 

 

spoke to Walter.

 

“Walter, Olivia’s pregnant.”

 

Walter’s face grew excited and he pulled me into his arms, but not before 

 

Peter grabbed a hold of Emily. When he pulled away, his smile stayed.

 

“Well that’s wonderful news Agent Dunham. May I be able to participate in 

 

the feedings after this next child is born?”

 

“NO Walter!”

 

The End


End file.
